Resurrected Memories — A Mystery Dungeon Story
by SlopeHoke
Summary: Tyler, a boy who fell overboard several years ago with no memory of the event, and Mia, twin sister to Fortune Island's Gym Leader, depart for Hoenn. As Tyler starts to uncover his past, they are forced to flee into the wilderness. Elsewhere, an intern at the Mossdeep Space Center discovers a bizarre meteorite, while two International Police agents begin investigating Cipher...
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer:**_ This fanfiction is rated "T" for mild language and disturbing themes. Pokémon, Mystery Dungeon and all related trademarks and copyrights are the property of Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures, The Pokémon Company, Spike Chunsoft, and/or Genius Sonority.

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RESURRECTED MEMORIES: A MYSTERY DUNGEON STORY  
By "Enigma149" (a.k.a. "SlopeHoke")  
Prologue  
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Bond Bridge, Kin Island, Sevii  
February 4th, 2015, 2:29 pm  
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Violet St Jaques skipped along Bond Bridge, humming a tune to herself. Her Bulbasaur bounced alongside her, balancing a basket on his bulb. Both Trainer and Pokémon enjoyed a snack of Bluk Berries as they made their way back toward town. The oversized fruits grew in abundance in the Berry Forest, and since they had no known healing or strengthening properties, Trainers tended to ignore them. That was fine, as far as Violet was concerned. They might not be worth much to her as a Trainer, but their sweet taste more than made up for their so-called "uselessness".

The wooden bridge beneath her feet shifted slightly as she made her way across it. Unlike the rough seas around most of Kin Island, the sheltered strait between it and the Berry Forest enjoyed calm waters. Swimmers frequented its shores even in the winter months (not that it got very cold here, or anywhere else in the Sevii Islands, for that matter). On most days, Violet would share her harvest with her best friend, Tisha, and together they would talk about fashion and boys and Pokémon and whatever else was happening around town (usually not a lot). No one would be swimming today, though; a storm was due to pass through that afternoon, and waves were already starting to crash against the wooden bridge.

A raindrop landed on Violet's hand as she took a bite of fruit. Another followed, then another; soon, it began to drizzle. Judging from the front clouds hanging in the southern sky, she would have to hurry if she wanted to avoid getting drenched. "Alright, Bulbasaur," she said as she reached for his Poké Ball, "at least one of us will be able to stay dry." She turned toward the Seed Pokémon…only to find he had vanished. "Bulbasaur?" she asked, looking around. "Where did you go?"

"Bulba," she heard, coming from behind her. Bulbasaur had stopped some fifty feet back, staring intently out across the water. The basket of Bluk Berries rested next to him; a few had fallen out, scattered across the bridge around him.

"Bulbasaur," she said as she jogged back to her Pokémon, "why'd you stop? Come on, we've got to get back before the storm hits."

"Saur," the Pokémon replied, nodding.

By now, the rain had started to come down more briskly, and it was getting difficult to see. Forget getting home unsoaked; if she stayed out too much longer, she would have to turn back and seek refuge in the Berry Forest. "This is no time to admire the view, Bulbasaur."

"Saur," Bulbasaur replied again. He raised a vine, and motioned out toward the water.

Violet squinted, using her free hand to shield the rain from her eyes. A dark object splashed in the water; probably a Magikarp or some other fish. Violet never really thought about what happened to fish in a storm. Hopefully, it would be okay, whatever it was; for now, she had herself to worry about. "I'm sure the Pokémon will be fine, Bulbasaur. Now get in the ball!"

She raised the Poké Ball. As she tried to activate the recall feature, Bulbasaur knocked it out of her hand with a vine, sending the Poké Ball toppling into the surf. "Saur!"

"Ow!" She rubbed her wrist. "What's gotten into you? Now we'll have to get you registered to another ball!" She looked out at the water. The waves were getting bigger now, and a streak of lightning flashed in the distance. The dark shape bobbed in the water again. She turned toward Bulbasaur and got down on her knee. "I get that you're worried," she comforted, "but we've really got to get going! Whatever it is, we'll check back on it when the storm's over, okay?"

"H…" echoed across the water, followed by another splash.

"See? It's a Horsea. I'm sure a Water-type like it will be fi —"

"Help," she heard, more clearly this time.

Violet looked back toward the water. Lightning continued to flash, approaching much, much faster. Now, though, Violet had more pressing concerns — the silhouetted shape, now somewhat closer, was clearly much, much too big to be a Horsea. It struggled to stay afloat before another large wave knocked it back below the surface.

"Bulbasaur! Use Vine Whip!" she commanded, now alert. "See if you can lift them out of the water!" As Bulbasaur sent two vines across the water, she turned toward the figure, once again struggling to stay up. "Just try to hold on!" she shouted. "Keep you head up, or something!" With the storm rapidly closing in, Bulbasaur struggled to keep his vines straight. Violet started to doubt if he could lift the figure. Even if he could make it, he would probably be unable to get a firm grip in the turbulence. Dropping them would probably ruin any sort of rescue she attempted.

Violet reached for her other Poké Balls. Bulbasaur might not be strong enough to battle a storm, but maybe her other Pokémon would be. Soon, an Ivysaur and Venusaur materialized next to her, looking mildly irritated by the rain. Both turned to their Trainer for commands. Bulbasaur, meanwhile, continued struggling to keep his vines on course in the storm's winds.

"There's someone in the water!" she exclaimed, pointing. "We have to get them out!"

The Pokémon nodded, and four more vines followed Bulbasaur's. Venusaur's, thicker and stronger than both Bulbasaur and Ivysaur's, fought wind and wave to reach the drowning figure. As it fell out of sight following a particularly large wave, Venusaur's thick green vines plunged below the surface. Oh, that wasn't good, was it? What good would Venusaur's strength do if he couldn't see what he was supposed to grab?

To Violet's relief, they returned a few seconds later, tightly wrapped around what looked to be a child her age. Venusaur quickly retracted his vines as lightning continued to flash, gently depositing the child onto the boardwalk. Just wait 'till she told Tisha about this! She was a hero! Well, her and Venusaur. She would have to get him something as a reward — maybe a plate of Occa Berries (Venusaur _loved_ Occa Berries).

She turned toward her rescue, her heel catching a puddle on the now rain-drenched bridge. With a yelp, she slipped, shielding her head with her arms as she toppled to the ground. She would have to be more careful; how embarrassing would it be to rescue someone from drowning, only to fall into the surf? With a groan, she looked up, and found herself just a few inches from the child.

It was a boy, wearing a light blue shirt and some yellow shorts. He had to be ten at most, probably younger. Where did he come from? She knew everybody on Kin Island, and the only people this young were girls. Maybe he was visiting from some other island…but if so, where were his parents? Surely they would have stuck around to make sure their child got back safely…or, if they lost him, started a rescue party. But the bridge and mainland were completely deserted, and even outsiders must know not to go swimming while a severe storm is rolling in.

"Come on kid," she said, shaking his shoulder as she climbed to her knees. "We've got to get going before the storm gets worse." As if to punctuate her point, a bolt of lightning cracked across the water, turning the water an electric blue and sending a percussive wave that made her vision vibrate. "Come on, let's go! Do you want to avoid drowning only to be killed by lightning strike?" As she climbed to her feet, she prodded the boy with her toe. When he remained still, she took a closer look.

He was not breathing.

Oh. Oh crap. That was bad, wasn't it? Was he dead? He didn't look dead, but maybe he actually was… What should she do? How did you tell if someone was dead? If only she had a Pokégear, then she could call for help.

What did they do in medical shows? Pound on the chest? Or was it the ribcage? Yes, that was it. You were supposed to break the ribcage. That meant it was working. Ribcage compressions. That was simple enough. She started compressions through his shirt. There was a hard lump on the left side of his chest. Oh no — did he have cancer? Wait. Cancer had nothing to do with drowning. Okay. Back to pumping.

Darn it, why wasn't it working? Was she doing something wrong? Maybe you weren't supposed to do this. Maybe she was just making it worse. Why didn't she pay more attention during health class? Was it here where you did mouth-to-mouth? Or was that when they were choking? It couldn't hurt, could it? She completed a final compression and propped the boy's mouth open. Taking a deep breath, she pressed her face to the boy's mouth and exhaled as hard as she could.

Eugh. It tasted like saltwater. Not how she pictured her first kiss to go. Okay, maybe Tisha wouldn't know about this…but there would be more time for worrying about that _after_ the boy breathed. "Come on," she said, returning to compressions.

There was that lump again. Was it something in his pocket? She reached in, and pulled out a Gym Badge she had never seen. Okay, so he wasn't from around here. Good to know. But not important right now. A wave crashed against the beach, sending a spray of seawater into them. She put the Badge into her pocket and resumed compressions. With the obstruction removed, she could press much harder now. That didn't seem to have much effect.

She pressed faster. Another lightning bolt struck nearby. Maybe she should just leave him out here. Didn't hospitals use electricity to restart hearts? If he got struck by lightning, maybe that would save him! Wait. Maybe she should check for a heartbeat first.

Violet held a finger to the boys neck. One…two…okay. He had a pulse. That was good. That meant he was alive. Then why the hell wasn't he breathing? Another crack of lightning. Why couldn't this storm just wait? What was she supposed to do? Nothing was working!

"Aargh!" she exasperated. "Come on, you stupid kid, breathe!" She pounded on his chest with her fist. Then again. And again. "Just…breathe!"

"Kack!" Another spray of seawater filled her face. She wiped it off with her hand. Why couldn't the waves stop? Why couldn't she — "Kack! Ack!"

She looked down. The boy coughed out a blast of water, as his chest began to move up and down. She did it! He was breathing! Well, coughing, but at least oxygen was flowing now. As the boy continued to cough, Violet rolled onto the boardwalk next to him, exhausted. Who would have thought saving somebody's life would be so tiring?

"So," she started as rain and seawater continued to shower them both, "what were you thinking going out in a storm like that?" The boy continued to breathe, and stared weakly at his arms. "What's your name, anyway?"

After another fit of coughing and moaning, she heard a mumbled, "Hands."

"Hans?" she asked. "Is that your name?"

The boy shook his head. "Tyler," he coughed. "Tyler Sind."

"Tyler…" Nobody on Kin Island had that name, Violet was certain. That was strange; the Sevii Islands had never been particularly big for tourism. That was starting to change on Knot Island, she heard, but certainly nowhere else. She raised herself with her elbows. "How'd you get here, anyway? Where're your parents?"

"Anne."

"Anne? Is that your mom's name?"

"No," he replied. "Boat."

A boat? Did he fall overboard? That would make sense, except the Seagallops were all docked today because of the storm. And as far as she knew, none of them had names — well, names beyond _Seagallop Hi-Speed,_ anyway.

A flash of lightning and an immediate cacophony of thunder put an end to her pondering. In the distance, she heard a tree tumble to the ground. She could worry about Tyler later. For now, they both had to get shelter, or one of them was bound to wind up getting killed. She reached for her Poké Balls to recall both Ivysaur and Venusaur, pausing once she saw Bulbasaur sheltering himself under Venusaur's rafflesia. Recalling Ivysaur, she turned back toward Tyler. "We've got to get going. The last thing we want is to have you rescued only to be struck by lightning."

After another cough, Tyler replied, "Right. I think I can." Slowly, he struggled to his feet (without the use of his arms, Violet noticed). Violet helped him steady himself once he made it up. He took a few awkward steps, then suddenly looked around. "Where's Treecko?" he panicked. "Did you save him with me?"

Oh dear. If this boy was a trainer, that would explain the Badge. And if his Pokémon was missing…Treecko were not exactly known for their swimming. "Is that your Pokémon?" she asked.

"No, he's…he's…a friend, I think." Tyler replied, still searching. "It's getting hard to think. But he's important." Once he saw her Pokémon standing on the boardwalk, he shouted, "You two — have any of you seen a Treecko around here?"

The two Pokémon shook their heads, both replying with their names. The boy seemed startled at this. Had he never seen Venusaur before? Maybe not, if he was from somewhere far away. "I'm sure Treecko's fine," she lied. "He's probably safe and sound on that boat with your parents."

She looked around. Getting back to town would take too long, but if they hurried, they could probably make it back to the forest. "Here", she said, taking the Badge back out of her pocket. "You had this in your pocket. Now come on — we'll be safe in the forest." That was probably true. Lightning usually struck the tallest things around, right? So surrounding themselves with trees should protect them, and help keep them dry. Unless one of the trees caught fire…but the rain would put that out, right?

She shook her head. Just another thing to worry about later. For now, getting out of the open was a priority. Once that was taken care of, they could start worrying about better shelter, and reuniting Tyler with…whoever he needed to be reunited with.

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 _ **Author's Notes:**_ Years ago, I started writing a fanfic, _Memories of Friends: A Mystery Dungeon Story._ Unfortunately, like far too many people, I stopped writing it, and eventually forgot about it altogether. Years passed, and a few of my friends found my account. One of them started reading it, which prompted me to remember, and consider finally finishing the story. Unfortunately, upon my reread, I noticed quite a few problems. Character motivations didn't make sense. The story was poorly written. Some characters were thrown in to just solve plot holes, with more characters thrown in to cover up their plot holes. There were inconsistencies. All-in-all, it just…wasn't very good.

This time around, things should be different. Whereas before, I took the "gardener" approach to writing, seeing how the story went along as I wrote it, with only a vague idea of where the story would finish. This, as it turns out, was a terrible, terrible idea, as I soon lost track of the plot and started throwing in new characters just to have things work out right. Not so this time. Every major event has been outlined from beginning to end, so all I have to do now is write out how exactly those events happen. I also have someone proofreading it, so theyr're should be far fewer grammatical errors.

If you read _Memories of Friends_ years ago, I'm sorry for the terribly long wait, and hope you like this version just as much as you like the last one (unless you didn't like it, in which case, I'm glad you're giving me a second chance). If you haven't, I hope you enjoy. As always, I enjoy whatever comments and criticism you have.


	2. Chapter One — Tyler

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RESURRECTED MEMORIES: A MYSTERY DUNGEON STORY  
By "Enigma149" (a.k.a. "SlopeHoke")  
Chapter One — Tyler  
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Sevault Port, Quest Island, Sevii  
January 14th, 2022, 5:33 pm  
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Tyler closed the door behind him as _Seagallop Hi-Speed 7_ rode out of port, the sound of its electronic lock clicking into place as he strode through the empty office. When he agreed to take this job, saving his father the effort of searching for another local tour guide, Tyler figured it would amount to easy money. He would give the few affluent tourists visiting Quest Island quick, private tours to the more "exotic" parts of the island, and in return, he would make enough money to fund his Coordinating. He even offered to do his dad's paperwork, so his dad could fit in an extra trip to Vermillion City at the end of the day.

That paperwork, he figured, would be the exhausting part. After all, that was the part his father complained about, right? The old tour guide, Jackson, never complained about his job. But then again, his father had been running the Seagallop ferries for seven years, while Jackson had quit after just two. He _claimed_ it was so he could pursue being a Pokémon Ranger full-time in Almia, but Tyler was starting to have his doubts…

As it turned out, showing rich people impressive sights and telling them what to do on the island was _hard_ , since there was nothing to do in town and none of the sights were particularly impressive, except for _maybe_ Sevault Canyon (though you had to be inland to see that). But everyone coming wanted a tour, and wanted to know where the best local restaurants are, and what secret spots to visit, and where to find a hotel (the town only had one), and how to act like a _visitor_ instead of a _tourist_. People, it would seem, did not do their research.

Tyler's memories from his childhood were very fuzzy, but he was fairly certain that the island was much quieter when he moved here eight years ago. Of course, eight years ago, the Sevii Archipelago had been little more than a small scattering of towns on a group of islands south of Kanto. They probably would have gone on being like that, had Celio Libman not opted to build his Network Center on Knot Island. Overnight, the Sevii Islands went from being the middle of nowhere to the middle of a massive communication network linking the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Orre regions. With that connection came business, and with that business came people. By now, Knot City (too big to be called anything else now) approached Vermillion City in size, and even Fortune Island had its very own Pokémon Gym.

For better or for worse, Quest Island escaped most of that modernization. Trainer Tower, built on an island just north of the mainland, went up even _before_ the Knot Network Center. A similar facility existed somewhere in the Hoenn region, both built by the Towerhill Corporation. It was supposed to draw Trainers from around the globe to the Sevii Islands, but the facility's poor reception, combined with the simultaneous opening of the first Battle Frontiers, doomed it and its twin to obscurity. A few Trainers still visited the decaying facility, but only enough to keep its doors open.

South of the mainland, the rugged landscape of the Sevault Canyon made it inadequate for development. A pedestrian bridge went up years ago, but beyond that, there had been no construction. Eventually, some big-shot developer might come along, build a skyscraper or two, and turn the town into a small metropolis; for now, though, it seemed to be limited by sheer geography. Not that that stopped the tourists from trying to pay a visit.

Deep down, Tyler admitted, those tourists were good for him. True, he got paid the same whether dozens of people took his tour or he sat in port all day, but if he sat in port _every_ day, what would be the point of keeping him around? Nepotism only went so far.

Regardless, with the 5 o'clock ferry gone, that job was done for the day, and he could retire to the port's main office; or, at least, its storage closet. The main office belonged to his father and Quest Island's other ferry driver, Duncan. Some of the bigger ports got their own dedicated staff to handle affairs like customs and port security; Quest Island was not so lucky. Here, those tasks fell to Tyler. Not that Tyler minded; a simple desk, a chair, and a lamp were all he really needed to make the closet his own. Well, those, a few pictures, and his radio. And while he may only be here for another week, that just meant there would be seven more long afternoons of filling out paperwork.

Today would be particularly long — there was an unusually large number of visitors without a Rainbow Pass, and each of them had to be recorded. Most, he imagined, were here for the Tanoby Ruins. The mysterious caves to the far south of Sevault Canyon had become a hotbed of tourism as of late (well, as much a hotbed as anything on Quest Island could be), with people coming from far and wide to see the Unown lithographs. Tyler had no idea why — by all accounts, the Ruins of Alph were more impressive, and their location in the middle of the Johto region made them much easier to get to. Maybe they were just looking for an excuse to go somewhere. Or maybe they were all part of a secret society bent on world domination, gathering on Quest Island to enact the final stage of their plans. The forms would be just as boring either way.

With the latest music from Radio Lavender blaring through his Pokégear and not a single visitor in sight, boring was fine. He was just about to get to a particularly long form concerning the legal admission of one Augustine Sycamore from Kalos when —

Tap tap tap.

No, no. He should just ignore them. They were probably some solicitor trying to get him to buy a miracle Pokémon lure or convert to Arceism. Well, he had no need for Pokémon before getting to Hoenn, and he had no interest in worshiping the Sinnoh region's favorite goat, thank you very much.

Tap tap tap.

Or maybe it was a customer. Well, too bad. The tours stopped running for the day. And he had his work to do. If it was really important, they could come back tomorrow; if not, they could come back never.

Tap tap tap.

Actually, that tapping was rather loud for coming through both doors. Had someone gotten into the office? No, that would be ridiculous. It was probably just someone banging so loudly on the outside door he could hear it in here.

Tap tap tap.

"Okay, okay. I'm coming, I'm coming," Tyler said, not too politely. With luck, this person, whoever they were, would be easy to attend to. If they were, he could point them on their way and get back to his work. If they were not, well, he could just point them in the direction of somewhere that was still open — the Pokémon Center, maybe — and get back to his work. Either way, he would definitely point out the "CLOSED" sign on the door…

The person ended up being an orange-haired girl around his age wearing a light blue dress. She looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen her face before, though he had no idea where. Maybe on TV? From the Poké Ball in her hand — red recall glow still lit — and the Pikachu running around her legs, she looked to be a Trainer. That was good, at least when it came to his time. Trainers usually just wanted to be pointed toward the Pokémon Center.

"Hi, sorry to bother you," she started, "but the information booth was closed, and I'm not sure who else to ask. Your light was on, so…you wouldn't by any chance know when the next boat to Trainer Tower leaves, would you?"

Tyler stared dumbly for a second before responding. "Ma'am, I hate to disappoint you, but we only run cruise lines around Canyon Island. As far as I know, nobody runs any ships to Trainer Tower. Even if we did, the tower closes at 5." Another pause followed; then, a questioning look. "How did you get in here, anyway? I could've sworn I locked the door."

"Oh, you must have left it ajar by mistake," the girl said, brushing his question aside with a wave of her hand. "And is there really no way I can get to Trainer Tower? I have a private training session there at 6; my sister set me up. Well, actually, it was supposed to be _her_ training session, but she's busy working at her Gym…"

That would explain why the girl looked so familiar. She was the spitting image of Miu Lael, the Sevii Islands' first licensed Gym Leader. Even Tyler knew who she was, which meant everyone else in the Sevii Islands probably did, too. He vaguely remembered hearing that she had a twin sister somewhere; this must be her. Luckily, if she just wanted to get to Trainer Tower, his job would be easy.

"Well, it's only half-after, and the tower's not that far," he offered. "Just follow Canyon Bridge Road through town to the beach, and surf across the water. I'm sure you'll make it in time."

"That's…not exactly an option for me. You see — oh, this is embarrassing — I…don't have any Pokémon that know how to, well, cross the water."

That would be an issue. "There's a Pokémart in town," Tyler offered. "Maybe they sell HMs? Surely you've got _something_ that can learn Surf. I mean, even Kangaskhan can learn Surf."

The girl shook her head. "No, I don't think so. The only Pokémon I have are a Porygon, a Vulpix, and Volt here," she said, gesturing to her Pikachu. "You're not allowed to use it without a Badge, anyway."

That would be an issue. Who ever heard of a surfing Pikachu? Unfortunately, unless this girl was willing to swim, she probably _was_ out of luck. Unless someone else had a boat to lend her, but…no, that would be a bad idea. Yes, the dock had a spare speedboat, and yes, he could sail it, but he would probably be in trouble if his father found out. Besides, it was supposed to be used in emergencies only, and he had his work to get back to.

Then again, if word got out that he refused to help the sister of Sevii Islands' very own Gym Leader get to a private training session…

He glanced back into the office room. "I…might be able to help you, then. We have a small boat used for rescuing passengers that have fallen overboard near the port. But with no ships nearby, it probably won't be needed for the rest of the night, so…"

The girl's face lit up, "Really? Oh, thank you! I'm afraid I don't have much money with me right now, but I could come back sometime next week on my way over to Vermillion City, and if you ever want some one-on-one training, I'm sure my sister would be more than happy to help."

"Don't mention it," Tyler said. "I mean it. We're technically closed, and I don't want every tourist thinking they can get private trips to the Tanoby Ruins anytime they want." As an afterthought, he added, "Besides, I'm not a Trainer."

From the expression on her face, Tyler suspected the girl found that a bit odd. If she did, she kept quiet about it. "Okay, gotcha. My lips are sealed," she said. "I'm Mia, by the way. Mia Lael."

"Tyler Sind," he said as he closed and locked the door to the office. As long as he got back before his dad came home, he could just use the large crowds as an excuse for not finishing his job. If anybody else needed to see someone at the dock before then, well, they were _supposed_ to be closed.

⁂

"So," Tyler began after he got the small speedboat on its way, "do you want the 'tour-guide' tour, or the 'sarcastic local' tour?"

Mia chuckled. "The 'sarcastic local' tour?"

"Excellent!" Tyler responded. "Then let us be off!" The boat pulled out of the harbor and started its quick journey around Quest Island. "Now, if you look to your left, you'll see the Sevault Canyon Bridge. This bridge was built eight years ago with money we received thanks to an earmark our island's legislator inserted into a bill creating nationwide education standards."

"Oooh. Aaah," Mia said in mock wonder.

"Now, that bridge links Quest Island with Sevault Island, home to the world-famous Sevault Canyon. If you've never heard of Sevault Island, that would make sense. It's considered a part of Quest Island. So is Trainer Tower Island, and the whole lot of the Tanoby Islands; they're all a part of this small archipelago we call 'Quest Island'."

"So then what's the island the town's on called?" Mia asked.

"Quest Island." All the Sevii Islands had weird naming conventions, grouping a bunch of small islands together for no apparent reason. Well, except Boon Island. And Floe Island. And…okay, there were a lot of islands that were by themselves. But not Quest or Fortune Islands.

"That's so stupid!"

"I know, right? And I haven't even gotten to the best part now." They were rounding the edge of Quest Island (the island, not the archipelago) now; soon, Trainer Tower would come into view. "Guess how many islands there are!"

"Hmm…" Mia started, a stupid expression on her face. "Seven?"

"Of course not — that would make sense! There're nine."

"Nine? Why, it's almost like whoever named our islands had no idea what they were doing!"

"I know!" Tyler chuckled. Mia chuckled. Soon, they were both laughing at the expense of their home islands. Oh well. Someone had to do it.

Once the laughter subsided, and an awkward silence filled it, Tyler decided to try another conversation. "So…a private training session, huh? That must be nice. You into battling, or…"

"Yeah, I'm going to challenge the Indigo League. Just got to wait on my Pokédex."

Her journey? Tyler gave her a puzzled look. "What made you wait this long?"

"My sister," she replied, anger rising in her voice. "We were supposed to travel the Kanto region _together_ , but noooo. I stayed home to…to take care of some things, but _she_ decided to start without me! As if that weren't bad enough, _she_ becomes a Gym Leader, and now everyone mistakes _me_ for _her_! But now it's my turn."

Okay. Struck a nerve there. Maybe he should talk about himself? "I'm actually starting my own journey soon," he started. "I'm not much for battling; Coordinating's more my jam."

"Coordinating?" Mia asked. "That's odd; we don't have any Contests around here. What made you want to try that? Older sister get you hooked? Or did you see it on TV?"

"My _younger_ sister is the battler in our family; she actually placed fourth in the Indigo League Tournament a few years ago," he said, pride in his voice. "She's off in Sinnoh now, probably trying a run at the Sinnoh League. We visited her in Hearthome a few years back, and while we were there, I went to a Contest; been hooked ever since." He would leave out that battling upset him. He still sometimes struggled to say why that was, exactly — he _had_ been fond of battling, way back when he was younger.

"Ah," she replied. "So…there aren't any Contests in the Kanto region. Where're you planning on going?"

"Hoenn," he said. "Next week, actually. I've been saving my money with this job for over a year." That was true-ish. He did occasionally spend it on more…frivolous things. "Speaking of money," he said, "for the boat ride over, that'll be ¥500, and once we add in the 'sarcastic local' surcharge…" he winked at her. "I guess we can say it's free, this time."

Mia shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"That would be Trainer Tower there," Tyler said, gesturing to the large green building adorning the island coming into view. "Here, I'll give you my Pokégear number, so you can call me when you get done."

Once numbers were exchanged and the boat was safely pulled ashore (Trainer Tower Island lacked a dock), Mia let out her Pikachu. "Come on, Volt," she started, "let's get in there, and show them we're just as good as Miu!"

"Pi pikachu!" the oversized rodent replied.

She looked back over her shoulder, waving to Tyler as she ran toward the tower. "Don't worry — this won't take that long!"

"Take your time!" Tyler waved back.

⁂

What was taking them so long, anyway? Tyler sighed, putting aside his twice-finished copy of _Coordinator's Monthly._ He never came to Trainer Tower (nobody did, really), but he hoped it would have at least _something_ to do for the people not Training there. All he could find was a small TV in the corner. As luck would have it, an elderly gentleman staring intently at a baseball game between two Unovan teams he had never heard of already beat him to it. At least, if he had brought his paperwork, he would have _something_ to do.

Tyler glanced at his Pokétch. The tiny computers never quite caught on outside of Sinnoh, and its monochrome screen was outdated compared to a Pokénav, or even a Pokégear, but for Tyler, nothing beat the portability. With it, he could use a calculator, keep a calendar, flip a coin, check for items people dropped along the beach, count things…if only it had some way of sending and receiving messages, he could forgo a Pokégear all together. A radio would be nice, too, but beggars cannot be choosers.

His Pokétch had one additional feature: telling the time. As 9 pm approached, his father was bound to be approaching Quest Island by now. Back at the port's office, a fresh pile of entry forms had to be waiting for him beneath the fax machine. Nothing truly terrible would happen if they were finished a day or two late — everyone was checked and approved before they got on the ferries, of course, and marking their arrival was simply a formality, designed to ensure nobody went missing on the way over — but Tyler had a perfect record with it so far, and dreaded telling his father _why_ he was late.

Of course, he _could_ just leave. That might not be the nice thing to do, but Mia could hardly blame him if he did. As it stood, if it took too much longer, they would both be stuck here. Tropical Storm Meari would be passing close to the Sevii Islands late that evening, and while Quest Island would be far from the center of the storm, Tyler was not going to bet against something like the weather, not in what he had. A Seagallop, maybe, if he was daring. But his little speedboat? They would be torn to pieces.

No. Abandoning Mia would be…wrong. And would probably go over even worse than not helping her in the first place. Sighing, he returned to the TV. One of the players in red knocked the ball over a green wall, to the cheers of the crowd. The old man sighed, muttered something, and went up to change the channel. Celebrating players were soon replaced by a brown-haired woman in a green dress and a black-haired man in a t-shirt.

"Thank you for watching Channel 4 HBC News at 9: Hoenn's number one name in news," the man began. "I'm Tyson Morey."

"And I'm Gabrielle Criswell," the woman continued. "Our lead story tonight: could your children secretly be training to become ninja? We'll ask one Fortree City mother about this new trend among teens. Later, we'll look at what the incoming congress means for Unova's President, and what Hoenn's falling grammar scores mean for the future of Hoenn Promise."

"But first," Tyson took over, "Let's hear from Joelle with Science Corner."

Why Quest Island received Hoenn's news instead of Kanto's (or the newer stations broadcast out of the Network Center) had escaped Tyler for years. Maybe there was some long-running contract in place that was too lucrative to let expire…or maybe the island was just so insignificant that nobody paid enough attention to realize they were broadcasting the wrong channels. Either way, Gabby and Ty had been the face of news on Quest Island for as long as he could remember. That used to be annoying; now that he was actually going to Hoenn, it seemed somewhat convenient.

The screen was replaced with a woman standing in front of an impressive-looking building. The tip of what looked like a rocket was barely visible behind it.

"Thank you, Gabby. I am standing in front of the Mossdeep Space Center in the Hoenn region, where HAXA has just released some surprising information on the KALOS satellite lost over a decade ago. I am here with the head of HAXA's interstellar probe team, Andrew Seiferas. Andrew, it's a pleasure to have you."

The screen split to show a graying man in a suit standing outside the same building, but from a different angle. "Thank you; it's a pleasure to be here," he replied.

"Now, what can you tell us about the satellite?"

"Well, as most of you probably know, KALOS was our revolutionary cartography satellite launched 16 years ago. With it, we mapped out the Hoenn and Orre regions to an unprecedented detail; it also assisted with disaster relief after the earthquake and tsunami hit Haruba Town in 2011. Once that was done, we relocated it to an observation orbit over Baram Island when it switched into its low-power mode. We sent a signal to turn it off — by now, a successor was in the works — and that was that."

Okay, so dead space probes. That…might be more interesting than baseball. Tyler only vaguely remembered KALOS _._ When he was a kid, he was borderline obsessed with Baram Island, Capim Island, and the rest of the so-called "lost continents". "Continent" might be a misnomer, but five large, uninhabited islands discovered with the rise of satellites far off the coast of Orre, untouched by humans? That was at least interesting. As a kid, he always talked about how he would explore it one day…at least, that was what his father told him.

"So, what caused it to go into low-power mode?" the reporter continued. "Was it a malfunction?"

"Up until last week, we thought its solar panels — which we needed to recharge the battery — were damaged by micrometeoroids. We've had some problems with this sort of thing in the past. Satellites move so quickly in space that even tiny pieces of space junk can cause catastrophic damage, like a small bullet hitting a glass window."

Tyler shook his head. Sometimes, he wished news reporters would just jump to the gist of it, instead of having these long, drawn out interviews. And what was all that garbage about ninjas? Still, if he was only watching it to take up time, should he really complain if the newscasters insisted on making things as long as possible? At least, if they were drawing out a boring space story, that meant nothing devastatingly bad happened today.

The reporter continued, "So, if that's what you thought last week, what do you think now?"

"Well, it's really the most remarkable thing, and we're lucky to know this at all. One of our interns was going through data in our Deep Space Network, which we usually use to communicate with our probes out orbiting Mars and Jupiter. He noticed some unusual files that, as it turned out, were backup files from the KALOS satellite. We made these backup files in case our main data reception system ever went down. Our current hypothesis is that the satellite did malfunction, but not because of a damaged solar panel; instead, something caused it to believe our main system was down. Once this happened, it started sending data to the Deep Space Network instead, and stopped accepting our commands. This means our shutdown command never got received, so the satellite kept on functioning."

"Does this mean we have nine years' worth of images to go over?"

"Well…" Andrew began. "Unfortunately, because our Deep Space Network has very limited storage capacity, we only store images from a few weeks there. But that's okay, because the images we _do_ have told us something truly remarkable. When we first saw the files, we noticed that they were all from early 2015, not the past few weeks. This is one of the reasons we were initially skeptical, but once we received the first batch of images — this took time — they told us exactly why the images stopped then."

"And? Why is that?"

Tyler sighed. More prepared questions. He had seen enough of these interviews to know that the reporter was already briefed on exactly what this Andrew Seiferas would say. It would not surprise him to learn that both had a script; with the limited timeframes channels had between commercial breaks, nothing could be left to chance.

"Take a look for yourself," the scientist replied.

"I believe we have that image here." Of course they had the image there. "Can we get that image on screen?"

A low-resolution image quickly replaced both the interviewer and interviewee. Half of the image was black; the other half showed what might have been the Earth, though it was almost completely obscured by a white flash.

"Now," Andrew's voice continued, "What we have here is, clearly, quite a large explosion. But that tells us a lot. For one, we now know exactly why the satellite stopped sending images — an explosion of this magnitude would easily disable it, if not destroy it outright. It's actually quite a bit unfortunate that we didn't know about this sooner, since we might have been able to get better images of the event as it occurred; as it stands, though, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event."

"But what could cause an explosion like this in space?"

That, Tyler had to admit, was an interesting question. Something about the image…unsettled him. He struggled to say why, but he had a strange feeling that there was something very off about this entire thing.

"That's the other remarkable thing. KALOS was never designed for this sort of thing, and it naturally didn't capture the source. Luckily, there are very few things that can cause an explosion of this magnitude. A supervolcanic eruption could have caused it, but we would have known of such an eruption even in such a remote part of the world well before now. Theoretically, the uncontrolled fusion of hydrogen atoms would cause such an explosion, but we don't even know if such a thing is possible, and, if it is, we once again would have easily been able to detect that by now. Which, really, leaves us with only one possible source — a meteor."

"A meteor? Isn't that dangerous?" By now, the reporter seemed to be showing genuine concern. Maybe she only received the images, not the actual information behind them. Or maybe she was just good at acting.

"Likely not. This explosion occurred in the lower atmosphere. Had anyone been unlucky enough to be under it at the time, it might have caused widespread devastation, but fortunately for us, this occurred over a remote, uninhabited part of the world."

"But if you didn't know about the meteor until now, couldn't it have wiped us out, without us knowing?"

Andrew, visible once more, carefully considered the question. "That's…highly unlikely. We're always looking for new nearby objects, and are tracking the biggest, most Earth-threatening ones actively. The odds of one of them hitting us within the next 800 years are less than a hundredth of a percent, and civilization-ending meteors don't just appear out of nowhere! Really, most of us are just glad —"

"What a load of malarkey," the old man muttered as the image onscreen changed from the scientist to a game show. "A meteor — hah! What will they come up with next time, I wonder?"

"Hey — I was watching that!" Tyler shouted, quite a bit louder than he meant to. He felt a little bad about that. A little. "Could you…change it back?"

The man looked at him with an annoyed face. "Okay, okay. Hold your horses. No need to get upset."

The two faces returned to the screen, though the report seemed to be wrapping up. "…really excited to share these images with the public. Due to the orbits of our Deep Space Network satellites, we should get about one batch every week. We'll be uploading those batches on our website as we receive them."

"Thank you, Doctor Seiferas." Joelle said, once again taking up the entire screen. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for Science Corner today. Be sure to tune in next week, as we interview Professor Cozmo of the Hoenn Fossil Research Institute on his latest findings. Back to you, Gabby."

"Hey, Tyler, what's up?" Mia's voice rang out behind him. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something, and not one of the Pokémon ones…"

Tyler took a beat to answer. "Gah!" he finally said. "Don't…don't sneak up behind me like that."

"Sorry. Anyway, I'm all ready to go back now. Sorry that took so long; you would not believe all the different nuances that go into when you should use Conversion!" When Tyler kept quiet, she continued. "Hello? Mia to Tyler. You in there? What are you watching, anyway?" She glanced at the TV. "And why do you have the Hoenn news?"

Finally, Tyler seemed able to collect his thoughts. Truth-be-told, he had absolutely no idea why the news had engrossed him so. He should probably apologize to that old man…then again, he was a bit of a jerk. Looking back at the TV (Gabby was discussing international politics, something he had little and less interest in), he tried shaking away the last bit of dread. He had no idea why, but it seemed like he was _supposed_ to care about that meteor.

"Right," he finally said, forgetting Mia's questions. "Yeah. Don't…don't worry about it." He looked around for a second before adding, "Okay. We should head back. Hopefully, we'll beat my dad back, and I won't have to explain to him why I skipped out on work. You have someplace to stay tonight, right?"

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  
Canyon View Apartments, Pyrite Town, Orre  
January 14th, 2022, 6:40 pm  
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

"Dammit, Rharl, open this door right this instant!" Derrik Stefan shouted, pounding on the metal door. The proprietor of Canyon View Apartments (the best view of the Pyrite Chasm in town, located just five minutes from Pyrite Colosseum!) dealt with bad tenants in the past. He dealt with tenants that struggled to pay their rent. He even dealt with tenants that made fun of his ghostly-white skin (maybe _they_ should try living half their life underground — see how they turn out then). But Genesee Rharl…something about him set Derrik off, and not just his perpetually late payments (exactly _why_ he was always late, Derrik could never understand).

"What?" Rharl snapped as he opened the door. At six feet, Derrik was quite tall for an Underite; the Unovan still stood several inches taller than him. His face, sharp as a butcher's cleaver, exuded force as his piercing blue eyes stared down at Derrik. Still, Derrik was in the legal right to evict him. The police in Pyrite Town might be somewhat incompetent when it came to big-name criminals, but they were sure to help him in this case. Maybe. He hoped.

"You know the rules, Rharl — you don't pay rent, you don't get a room! You're two weeks late, so either you can get me my money right now or your ass can sleep on the street tonight."

Rharl rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, hold your horses," he said as he reached for his wallet, handing Derrik a few tattered bills. "There. That should cover it."

Derrik took the scattering of bills. ¥5,000, ¥10,000…¥15,000. "Where's the rest of it?" he snapped.

"What're you talking about?" Rharl replied. "Rent's ¥3,000 a week. December had five weeks in it, and unless I miscounted, that there's ¥15,000." The look he gave Derrik told him he thought he was stupid. Maybe he was, for pushing Rharl like this, but what was his other option, just let him live here? He had bills to pay, too.

"This is December's rent, sure, but you still owe me November's, remember? When you couldn't cover that, you promised you'd pay me back by the end of December. 'I've just got to make some cash,' you said."

"Oh, please. You and I both know you don't have any other tenants," Rharl responded. "You'll get that at the end of January."

"You said that last month," Derrik countered, "but here we are." Rharl was right, of course. Pyrite Town was the sort of place you either left when you were young, or were too poor to leave. The former, obviously, had no need of his apartments; the latter almost never moved from their homes. He usually had at least a few tenants, and property should be valuable, being so close to the Colosseum (not that Derrik ever went). But after seeing their numbers steadily dwindle over the last four years, he began to realize why the old proprietor was so eager to be rid of this place. If someone else moved in, he could kick Rharl to the curb, but until then…

Rharl rolled his eyes again. "Okay, okay. I get it. Hold on." He reached into his wallet and pulled out another pair of bills. "There. ¥12,000."

Derrik took the money and put it in his back pocket. "Alright. We're good then…for now. You better pay me next month!"

Rharl simply shrugged and slammed the door in Derrik's face. Derrik shook his head. "Sometimes, Derrik, you're just too nice," he muttered to himself as he walked back toward his own apartment. Rharl's payments, if he made them, would cover him for the next few months. After that...well, maybe tomorrow, another tenant would stop by. Probably not, but maybe.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

 _ **Author's Notes:**_ Well, there it is. Chapter 1 done and finished. But…better this time, I think. For those of you who read _Memories of Friends,_ please don't put any spoilers in your reviews (although quite a bit has changed from that version of the story, so it might actually be difficult to spoil something) Fun fact: even though the Pokémon dollar ("Pokédollar"? "Poké"?) is basically just yen, the "P" symbol the games use is actually the symbol for the Russian ruble. Unfortunately, this website doesn't support this symbol (…for some reason…), so "¥" it is.


	3. Chapter Two — Mia

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  
RESURRECTED MEMORIES: A MYSTERY DUNGEON STORY  
By "Enigma149" (a.k.a. "SlopeHoke")  
Chapter Two — Mia  
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  
The Sind Residence, Quest Island, Sevii  
January 15th, 2022, 7:43 am  
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Mia would have to thank Tyler's father.

When she told Tyler that she planned on spending the night in the Pokémon Center, she figured that was a rather typical thing for trainers to do. The Center on Fortune Island had a few rooms for traveling trainers to spend the night in, and she assumed it would be the same everywhere else. As it turns out, that might be true…but not on Quest Island, which (according to Tyler) received so few visitors nobody ever bothered to expand the Pokémon Center. They were discussing where she might stay on her way back to town when Tyler brought up the possibility of staying at his house. She was rather hesitant to intrude, but he was insistent. Since she had nowhere else to stay, she reluctantly agreed.

For the rest of their short trip back to port, they talked about more mundane things. Tyler mentioned his sister again; he certainly seemed rather proud of her. They both discussed what life was like on their respective islands (Quest Island, from what it sounded, was even more boring than Fortune Island). She told him about her vacation to Alola last summer. He, as it turned out, had been all over the world — Hoenn twice, Sinnoh thrice...even a trip to the Kalos region. _That_ made Mia jealous. She had always wanted to go to the Kalos region, but with her parents separated and her father bedridden, things never quite worked out. That last bit, she kept secret from Tyler; there was no sense in making him feel sorry for her.

His father, as it turned out, had already beaten them back to port and was getting ready to send out a search party for him. He seemed a little upset that Tyler shirked off his work and rather furious at him for "stealing" the boat. Once he learned who she was, though, he had been more than happy to offer her a place to stay for the night ("Anything for the family of Sevii's own Gym Leader!"). Tyler even offered her a fresh set of sheets and his own bedroom to stay in (his father might have had something to do with that). Sure, after the bed, end table, and dresser were taken into account, she hardly had enough room to maneuver around in, but a room was a room. At least Tyler _had_ his own room; Mia had just started to enjoy not sharing a room with her sister when — surprise! — she came back to Fortune Island to start her own Gym.

Stretching her arms, she rolled toward the side of the bed, accidentally knocking her Vulpix off with her. She had let Snow rest in the bed with her, along with Volt; the Pikachu was still curled up, asleep, next to her pillow. A very long time ago, she tried getting Byte to do the same, but her Porygon seemed to enjoy the cold machinery of a Poké Ball over the comfort of a warm bed. Oh well; its loss.

Apologizing to Snow, she grabbed her Pokégear off Tyler's nightstand. Aside from a lamp and a small clock that (based on the time on her Pokégear) still needed to be adjusted back from Daylight Savings Time, the end table held a few other items: a framed picture, a few pencils, and an egg-shaped pin. The picture showed a man and a woman accompanied by a smiling boy and girl. A Pidgey sat perched on the girl's shoulder — this must be the sister Tyler had mentioned yesterday. They all stood in front of a fancy, pink-colored building. It _looked_ important, though Mia had no idea where it actually was; certainly, nowhere in the Sevii Islands.

The pin was a bit more interesting. Two wings protruded from either side, with a golden egg in the middle. She picked it up. It was much heavier than she was expecting and seemed to blemish slightly in her hand. Was it a Badge? It certainly looked like one — same general size, similar texture, simple design — but none of the 18 Indigo League Gyms had a Badge that looked anything like this. It might be from the Orange Islands; they were close to the Sevii, after all, and there had been talk in the past of expanding the Orange League to its sister archipelago, before the Indigo League beat them to the punch. But from what Mia remembered, they used Badges made out of seashells; nice as this egg looked, it was certainly not a seashell.

And if it was a Badge, whose was it? Tyler told her he wanted to become a Coordinator — surely, if he was already a Trainer adept enough to challenge a Gym, he would have mentioned something about it. Maybe this was his sister's. For all Mia knew, some Gym in the Sinnoh region could give out Badges like this one. She seemed to recall learning somewhere that the region was a big mining center, and if the Orange Islands used seashells as Badges, Sinnoh could just as easily use minerals. But if this _was_ Tyler's sister's, why would Tyler have it? If she had won a Badge, she would need it to compete in the Sinnoh League, right?

Oh well. No point speculating about it now; she could just ask him about it at breakfast or something.

Snow jumped onto the nightstand, getting his foot caught in the drawer. Hmm…she wondered what sort of secrets Tyler might have hidden in there. Maybe he had something explaining the badge, like a letter from his sister. She only had to take a peek; Tyler would never have to know.

No, no. Mia had to stop doing things like this. It had been fun while she was a kid, and had brought her a lot of joy over the past few years, but she knew it was only a matter of time before one of her "little escapades" (as Miu liked to call them) got her in serious trouble. Even if Mia hated to admit it, her sister was right — snooping and sneaking and stealing might get her a slap on the wrist on Fortune Island. In Kanto, though, they were far less likely to be tolerant of such things.

On the other hand, this was Quest Island, not Kanto, and looking in someone's drawer was far less a crime than, say, shoplifting…no, no. Sneaking into other peoples' things might not be that bad, but there was a slippery slope down that chain of thought that might end with her getting in trouble…

Then again, was it really so bad if she already had permission to be in the room?

Flimsy justification in place, Mia slid open the end table drawer, careful not to accidentally pull it from its guide rails. She was greeted by a seemingly-random collection of pencils, charging cables, and candy bar wrappers resting atop a few year-old issues of some Coordinators' magazine — hardly anything unexpected. Setting these aside yielded what might have been homework from Tyler's school days, most of which actually looked complete. The homework was haphazardly piled atop binders that Mia first thought were used for additional schoolwork; upon further inspection, however, they turned out to store a sizable collection of old trading cards.

Putting the binders aside, she found a few crude drawings of Pokémon. Most seemed to depict some sort of nature scene, and judging from their crude quality and disproportioned style, Tyler must have drawn them years ago. An Absol walked through a snowy forest. A Whiscash played with a Caterpie as a Butterfree looked on. A Pelipper flew above an ocean. A Treecko carried a messenger bag through a shaded forest. A Gengar ate a Torchic's dreams. A Smeargle painted the side of a building. A Treecko and a Torchic battled a Rayquaza. A Ninetales stood atop a mountain.

Below these drawings were…Pokémon Trainer registration forms?

She pulled out a yellow paper. Sure enough, these were official forms for registering to become a Pokémon Trainer — or, at least, carbon-copies of them. Tyler was planning on becoming a Coordinator, true, and even if he was participating in contests and not Gym battles, he would still need to register for his license and first Pokémon…but these forms were for the Indigo League, not Hoenn. From the way Tyler acted, she thought he would be waiting until he arrived in Hoenn to pick up his first Pokémon, yet this form clearly said he would be starting with a Nidoran. That was an unusual choice, but not an altogether unheard of one. The date, though…2014? That would make Tyler just under 10 when this form was —

She heard a knock at the door.

"Mia?" Tyler's voice asked. "You up? My dad made us breakfast — it's waffles."

"Don't come in," she blurted, "I'm…uh…getting dressed."

"That's not…" Tyler's started. A second later, he continued, "Okay, whatever…just come down when you're ready, I guess…"

Quickly, Mia stuffed everything back into the bottom drawer, putting in a minimal effort to get them all back in in something resembling the order they were in before. Tyler probably never looked deep in the pile, and it seemed unlikely that he would remember the exact order he put stuff in…but that sort of thinking would get her caught someday (not that she was planning on keeping her habit, of course). Plus, it would be rude to upset what was obviously a highly-thought-out and well-grounded organizational system.

She could still talk to Tyler about the Badge, though. He left it lying around on his bedside table, so it must have been important to him. She would also have to ask him about his sister. Mia wanted to know what prompted her to travel all the way to Sinnoh, instead of challenging the closer (and, in many ways, better regarded) Indigo League. It seemed so far away; for that matter, so did Hoenn. Maybe, with their family having travelled so much, faraway places were the only places that still seemed exciting to Tyler and his sister.

Mia shrugged. There was no sense standing around here when she could just as easily ask Tyler at breakfast. Nodding once to herself, and making sure to put Volt and Snow back in their Poké Balls, she opened the door. A dimly-lit staircase and the smell of waffles greeted her. By the time she got downstairs into the Sinds' small kitchen, Tyler was already deep into his stack, with a second left untouched across from him. Judging from the empty plate at the third seat on the table, Tyler's father had already eaten and left. That would make sense; the Seagallop ferries started running at 7:30, and Mr. Sind would have to be there in order for that to happen.

"Morning," she said cheerfully as she took the seat across from Tyler. Reaching for her first waffle — no sense in ruining it with syrup or anything — she continued, "Thanks for letting me spend the night here."

"Don't mention it," Tyler replied with a wave of his hand. "We couldn't have you sleeping alone outside now, could we? You'll have plenty of time for that once you start traveling."

He had a point there. Sure, Pokémon Centers offered rooms for wayward Trainers to spend the night (well, _most_ Pokémon Centers), but Trainers spent most of the time sleeping in the great outdoors. Thankfully, Mia had been preparing for this — she owned a sleeping bag, had an emergency medical kit, and knew how to keep Ursaring from getting to her food. Rain might be a problem, though.

"Want some honey?" Tyler continued. "It's fresh from Mahore Town; best honey outside of the Sinnoh region."

"No, thanks." There would be time for honey later. "So," she started, "I noticed a sort of pin on your nightstand…"

"Hmm?" Tyler said with mouthful of waffle. "Oh, the egg. That's…" He paused, thinking for a minute before restarting. "When I was a kid, my dad was a sailor on the _S.S. Anne._ Since the ship only comes to Vermillion once a year, we didn't get to see him very much. When I was nine, my mom decided that we — her, Ann, and me — would all take a short vacation on it to the Orange Islands. That way, we'd get to see him, and since we got an employee discount, we could afford to go someplace we normally couldn't.

"We were delayed by almost a day getting out of port because the captain was sick, so when orders came in to reroute, he ignored them to make up lost time. We were about a day or so into the trip when Typhoon Nuri hit; I don't actually remember much, but one way or another, I wound up getting tossed overboard. As I understand it, when that happens, you're pretty much toast no matter what, unless you're near shore and the weather's good. But out on the open ocean, in that storm? I don't even think they knew I was gone. The captain wound up getting fired, of course, and my dad quit the company when they wouldn't take legal responsibility since there wasn't a…since they couldn't confirm I was, well, you know. Dead.

"To make a long-story-short, I washed up on the coast of Boon Island some two months later, still, uh, alive and clutching that pin you found. Since then, I've kept it as a sort of good luck charm."

That was…not the response Mia was expecting. Way back when she was eight or nine, she had heard of the boy being found on Boon Island — it prompted a number of lectures from her mother to her sister and her about how they had to be safe around boats (as if somehow their own irresponsibility caused the boy to fall overboard). But to think that person was actually Tyler…

"Um…that's…" she began. "I…I don't really know what to say to that. Gosh. I'm...sorry. Not that you lived, I mean, but that must have been traumatizing, as a kid…"

"It's okay," Tyler said. "I honestly don't remember much from it. Besides, that's all in the past, right? Can't do anything about that, unless you have a Celebi in one of those Poké Balls."

Mia chuckled. "No, I'm afraid I don't. I've got a Mew and a Jirachi, but Celebi's sadly evaded me," she joked.

"Ah, well, can't be helped." He glanced at a clock on the wall. "It's getting late; we should probably start heading to the docks, if you want to catch the 8:30 ferry. Here, I can walk you there —"

"Oh, that won't be necessary," Mia replied. "I was actually thinking about doing some training in Sevault Canyon, before I went back." Mia had seen the canyon on her way into port, but like most citizens of the Sevii Islands, had never actually been there. She had heard the Sevault Canyon was one of most impressive sights in the Sevii Islands, second only to Mt. Ember. Supposedly, the canyon held some of the rarest Pokémon in the entire archipelago. Just how a canyon formed on such a remote island still escaped geologists, but Pokémon were more than happy to use its rugged landscape to make their home, and where Pokémon went, Trainers followed.

"Well, okay then," Tyler said. "See you around, I guess. Or not, probably."

"Right." Mia chuckled. "See ya again, someday!"

⁂

Mia's sister was already back from her Gym by the time she returned to their home by the Pattern Bush. "You're going to love traveling," she was saying as they walked inside. "It's really best if you do it with someone else, though. Why, when I was heading through Johto, there was this boy, Joey..."

Yeah. Great. Mia had heard this all before. Traveling is great. How was your training? Did you learn a lot? Ready to challenge the Gym Leaders? Did I mention I have a Gym? Maybe, if Mia had run off on her journey five years ago and Miu had been the one to stay home, she would be the one with the Gym telling Miu all about how amazing she was. Did Miu ever think of that? Mia had her doubts.

"…I'll tell you, it was absolutely beautiful. I know the legends say its wings were aflame, but these were literally made of fire, lighting up the night sky as it took off like —"

"I don't want to hear any more about your boyfriend," Mia interrupted.

Miu had a shocked expression on her beet-red face. "Joey was _not_ my boyfriend!"

"Sure he wasn't."

Her sister rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You're just jealous we saw Moltres and you didn't."

"Sure you did." Mia had heard _this_ story before, too. Every time Miu told it, it seemed to change. The first time she heard it, they barely saw Moltres as it flew high in the sky. Then Moltres was flying overhead low enough to feel its warmth. Now she expected her to believe they saw it take off? It was a good thing Mia was leaving on her journey so soon — by next month, Miu might be bragging about how she _battled_ the bird. Well, she had more important things to worry about than her sister's made-up ramblings about a made-up bird even their grandmother stopped believing in. Taking on a more somber tone, and glancing toward the closed door to her left, she whispered, "How's dad?"

"Oh, he's fine," Miu continued, oblivious. "Anyway, I'm just glad you're finally going on your journey; speaking of which…" Miu held up a manila envelope. "Guess what came today." One side was emblazoned with the logo of the Indigo League Operations Department, which would make this...

"My Pokédex!" All Trainers starting out in the Kanto Region received a Pokédex. The pocket encyclopedias had become as big a staple as Potions and Poké Balls since Samuel Oak invented them seven years ago. Traditionally, Trainers would receive them alongside their starter Pokémon in Saffron City or Pallet Town, but since she already had a few Pokémon, hers was simply sent by mail. She grabbed the envelope. It seemed lighter than she expected; maybe this was a new model? With all the patience and care of a child on her birthday, she tore open the package to find...a piece of paper. As her eyes scanned it, her expression fell from joy, to confusion, to utter disappointment.

"What's wrong?" her sister asked, all innocently. Of course she would act innocently. She probably already suspected this was coming. She had to know the envelope was too light.

"Dear Ms. Lael," she read aloud, emulating a posh accent. "We appreciate your interest in competing in the Indigo League. However, our policy on family-member participation is in effect to ensure the fairness of our competitions, and we are thus unable to accept you into League participation at this time. We hope you do not allow our decision to dissuade you from training, and we wish you luck in your future endeavors. Best regards, Celeste Pawlicki, Vice President of Operations, Indigo League."

Mia glared at Miu. Miu herself had a befuddled expression that quickly turned into a frown. "Those…asshats," she said. Okay. So maybe her sister _was_ just as surprised about the rejection as she was. It was still her fault. "You can always still go on your journey, you know. Just because you can't challenge the Indigo League doesn't mean you can't travel."

That was true, on a surface level — she could travel, ban or no. But what would be the _point_ of traveling, if she was banned from the Indigo League? Sure, she could see the sights, camp out under the starts, but she could do that _without_ her Pokémon. She could still train, of course, but the only way she could test her abilities would be challenging random Trainers walking along paths…and she already did that! Not often, but she did.

Not only was she now barred from the biggest competition in the Kanto and Johto regions, but being disqualified meant she would also be prevented from challenging the Kanto region's Gyms. Since the Johto and Kanto merged their Leagues years ago, that meant she would be barred there, too. She was pretty sure you needed to do well in the Indigo League to enter the Battle Frontier. Even the Trainer Tower required at least some Gym experience. That only left the Grand Festival, but the last thing she wanted to do was compete in contests. Enough people already assumed she was a Coordinator. Nickname your Pokémon? "Oh, they must love that in Contests!" Like cute Pokémon? "Aw, I bet she looks great in her Ribbons!" Be a girl? "Gyms? But aren't you a Coordinator?"

Screw them. The Sinnoh Champion was a woman. The Unova Champion was a woman. Kris Crystal, the person who stopped Team Rocket's revival, was a woman (or was that Lyra Silver? Mia always got the two confused). Sabrina was a Gym Leader. Erika was a Gym Leader. Dahlia was a Frontier Brain. Her own sister ran the only Pokemon Gym in the Sevii Islands!

And who cared if the Pokémon she used were cute? Pachirisu was cute, but that guy who won the World Championships seven…eight…seven…however many years ago used one as the centerpiece of his team. Even Red — who would probably be the best Trainer in the world, if anyone knew where he was — used a Pikachu, just like her sister and her (though they got theirs first).

Cute Pokémon had their place outside of Contests. Girls had their place outside of Contests. Tyler could keep his Contests; _she_ was not about to perpetuate more stereotypes. She would prove that she was just a good a Trainer as Red, and Cynthia, and Miu. Better than Miu. Maybe not Red or Cynthia, but definitely Miu. She would just have to find somewhere else to do it.

But where? She could head south to the Orange Islands, but they barely even had a League. The Decolore Islands had even less than that. Alola was an option — it would be nice to take Snow home again — but while there were rumors of a League starting up there, it still seemed a few years off. With them, Kanto, and Johto out of the picture, and Kalos and Unova too far away, that left…

Hoenn. Yes, Hoenn would be good enough. Steven Stone had come from Hoenn, so they had no shortage of strong Trainers, and Miu was friends with one of their Gym Leaders, so beating them would be extra sweet. Plus, the climate was tropical, and they had a volcano. Did Kanto have a volcano? Oh, wait — Cinnabar Island. Okay. But Hoenn also had a town _inside_ the volcano. Did Kanto have that? No.

Now that she thought of it, Miu was talking about how great it would be if she traveled with someone. And while everyone starting their journeys in Kanto would be well below her age — she glanced at her Pokégear — she did know someone who would be in Hoenn in a week. Yes. Hoenn was the way to go. Her Trainer Card should be valid there, but crossing an international border would be difficult, and getting tickets on such short notice was sure to be expensive…

She turned toward Miu. "The League still pays for all your travel expenses, right?"

Her sister looked puzzled for a second. "Yeah…" she started. "Why?"

"If you were to, say, buy a ticket to, I don't know, Hoenn, they would pay for that?"

"I suppose they would…oof!" Miu quickly found herself wrapped in a strangling hug.

"Oh, thank you! I guess this makes us even then." She checked the time on her Pokégear. 3:16. The last boat for Vermillion left at 3:30. That might be enough time, if she ran. Letting Miu breathe again, she grabbed her bag off the counter, motioned toward Volt, and bolted out the door.

"Thank you for what?" Miu asked, after taking a second to breathe "What're you planning? Where are you off to?"

"To get a passport!" she cried back.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  
Pyrite Colosseum, Pyrite Town, Orre  
January 15th, 2022, 7:02 pm  
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Haruki leaned against a rusty railing, waiting for the first match to start. From what he could tell, Pyrite Colosseum might have been a passable venue when it was built some forty-odd years ago; today it was little more than a dingy, weather-worn iron sphere that happened to have Pokémon battles inside it. He could understand the lack of air conditioning — it was expensive, there was that giant gaping hole in the roof, and the mining town stayed rather cool during the winter…for being in the middle of the desert, anyway.

Seats would have been nice, though.

A shriek of feedback from a hidden loudspeaker signaled the match announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen," a voice rang out, "welcome to the January 2022 Pyrite Colosseum Tournament Semifinals!"

The crowd let out a cheer. Haruki joined them. Pyrite Town was past its prime, true, and the only thing still going up in the town was its crime rate, but the Colosseum battles were unlike anything they had on Akala, and if he was going to be stuck in this town, Haruki wanted to see at least one before he left. Maybe — if Dirk and he were still here next month — he would enter with Growlithe. ¥200,000 would be quite a nice prize to take back to Alola, and it had been a while since he had had a good battle…which, now that he thought of it, meant he would probably lose. Plus, he was pretty sure you needed two Pokémon to compete.

"In our opening match of the evening, coming off his victory last week over Tisler Kithri, Vilch Stefankovic will be facing last month's defending champion, Genesee Rharl!"

Both combatants entered with something covering their faces: Vilch wore a red bandana and reflective glasses, while Genesee preferred a wide-brimmed visor. This sort of fashion seemed to be the norm throughout Pyrite — a remnant of Cipher's influence, Haruki supposed. Years ago, the criminal syndicate had taken over Pyrite — along with half of Orre — in a plan to conquer the world with so-called "Shadow Pokémon". How exactly they planned to do that, Haruki never figured out, but based on the way people talked, it was a time when it was smart to keep your head down and your face hidden.

After suffering a defeat in Realgam Tower, Cipher retreated into the shadows, only to emerge again two years ago on Citadark Isle. They were supposedly beaten for good that time, but their third-in-command, Aldes, managed to evade authorities. Now, rumors started circulating of a second revival. Not wanting to see the region fall a third time, Governor Sherles called in the International Police. And so Haruki and Dirk found themselves in Pyrite Town.

When Dirk first told him of their assignment, of course, he was happy. He joined Interpol to make a difference in the world. Taking down a crime syndicate like Cipher was certainly one way to do that, and he was lucky they were willing to let someone as new as he was on such an important mission. And Dirk might not be as famous as, say, Nanu, but he was certainly experienced. Now, though…two months of no leads were enough to dampen his spirits, and Pyrite Town would go on being a shithole whether they took down Cipher or not.

Just as the fight was about to begin — Vilch's Electrike and Cacnea facing off against Genesee's Chandelure and Ferrothorn — he heard a familiar ringtone coming from his Pokégear. That would be Dirk. It had to be; he had gotten a new number when he came to Orre, and Dirk was the only one with it. Either that, or it was a spam call; those did happen from time to time.

"Alola," he answered, not too politely. "Do you know what time it is?"

"I forgot my watch," the voice on the other end — it _was_ Dirk — replied. "Scuttle your butt back to the hotel. We've just received a tip that there's some suspicious activity around the old mine cave." The Pokégear cut off.

Taking a glance back at the battle, Haruki sighed. This was supposed to be his day off, and he had already paid for his ticket. Oh well; at least if the tip turned out to be true, he would be able to leave this Podunk town.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

 _ **Author's Notes:**_ "Podunk Town" would totally be a good name for a town in a Pokémon game.

The Pyrite Colosseum doesn't give out nearly ¥200,000. I don't even think they give you ¥5,000, which, if you think about it, is pretty crummy, given that a twelve pack of soda costs almost ¥4,000. Though then again, a night at the Pyrite Grand Hotel only costs ¥100, so maybe soda in the Pokémon World is just really, really expensive.


	4. Chapter Three — Tyler

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  
RESURRECTED MEMORIES: A MYSTERY DUNGEON STORY  
By "Enigma149" (a.k.a. "SlopeHoke")  
Chapter Three — Tyler  
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

A flash of green filled his vision, and a claw streaked across Tyler's body. Glancing down, he saw a gash open in his side. Where did that come from? Did he get hit again?

Despite its immense size, Rayquaza was fast — much, much too fast. How were they supposed to defeat Rayquaza if it could hit them twice in the time it took them to land a single hit? And if they did somehow manage to defeat it, who would save them? What would be the whole point to this, if they just wound up knocking it out?

No. There was no time to worry about that. This was a battle for survival; if they could just beat it enough to get it to stop, maybe Rayquaza would notice the tremors. If not…

Tyler tried launching another Flamethrower, but nothing came out of his mouth. Puzzled, he tried again, but there was still no heat; no flame. Something else pierced his side. Probably another claw; it was hard to be sure. He tasted blood in his mouth. Why was he bleeding there? Was he hit in the head? He felt a throbbing in his cheek, and brought his fingers up to check. Yup — that was definitely blood on his fingers.

Wait. Why did he have fingers? Why did he have hands? That wasn't right; he wasn't supposed to have hands. Or…was he? Maybe he was…

Something was squeezing his body. A claw. Was Rayquaza going to throw him off the cloud? He tried beating it with the hands he shouldn't have, but the claw refused to loose him. He kicked with his legs; they felt longer than he was used too, and their shape was wrong. The grip still didn't budge. His partner was shouting something, but it made no sense. Why would Treecko just shout his name over and over again?

It was hopeless. They had lost. Rayquaza would destroy them, and they would die. Rayquaza would die. Alakazam, Kecleon…even Gengar would die. Not to mention all their teammates, their friends...

He looked up. There, above them all, was the star, falling, falling…

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  
The Sind Residence, Quest Island, Sevii  
January 21st, 2022, 6:26 am  
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Tyler made his way downstairs. In the predawn darkness, he navigated them carefully; there was a light, but for whatever reason, the people designing the house felt it would only be necessary to put a switch at the _bottom_ of the staircase. Tyler had learned a few very painful lessons about how to make his way down without tripping. Faint sounds of a news program echoed up the stairs, and, judging from the smell, his father was cooking pancakes.

"Morning," he said as his father came into view.

"Tyler — you're up!" his father exclaimed as he shut off the small television they kept in the kitchen. "I was worried I'd have to wake you soon. The smell of pancakes wake you, or are you just excited about your big day?"

Tyler shook his head. "Bad dreams; I couldn't fall back asleep."

"About drowning?" His father looked concerned. "You haven't had those in years, but I suppose traveling so far on the open ocean might make them resurface." He paused for a moment. "If you want me to come with you, I'm sure I could take a few days off."

"No, not about drowning. I honestly barely even remember the accident. It was about…" What was it about? Dreams were funny like that, he supposed. It had certainly scared him — he awoke in a cold sweat and spent over an hour trying to fall back asleep before giving up and coming down for breakfast —but for the life of him, Tyler had no idea what it was actually about. It must have been important, though. "I…honestly don't remember," he finally continued. "And I don't need you to come with me. It's only a few days, and if I can't take a few ships by myself, how am I supposed to travel across Hoenn?"

His father sighed. "I suppose you're right. I just worry about you, is all." His father passed him some pancakes. "Well, if you're up this early, you might as well eat some breakfast. They're better when they're hot, you know."

Tyler eagerly took the plate to the small table in the corner of the kitchen. The pancakes did, indeed, look far better now than they usually did, and the steam rising off of them suggested his butter would melt quickly. He would have to learn to cook food like this, somehow, once he was on the road. As it was, he was planning on eating pre-packaged "Trainer's Meals". From what he understood, they would keep him from going hungry, but do little else. Money would be tight on the road — until he placed in his first Pokémon Contest, at least — but maybe he could buy an electric griddle on his way over. Lilycove was supposed to have a major department store, right? Or was that Sootopolis?

His father, grabbing the latest batch off the stove and setting the rest of the batter aside, joined him at the table. Unlike his son, who preferred a drizzle of syrup, Mr. Sind poured out half the bottle; by the time he was finished, the bottom third of his stack was submerged. Several pieces of butter floated in the brown lake. "So," he said through a mouthful of pancake, "Whtt rre yyrr plnns?"

Tyler looked at his dad for a second. "What was that?"

His father swallowed his pancake, took a sip of orange juice, and repeated, "What are your plans?"

"What do you mean?" Tyler had spent months talking about what he was going to do, and his dad paid for half of his trip. Surely he knew his route by now. "I'm taking the _Aqua_ to Olivine, then the _Spiral_ to Mossdeep, and from there I'll take Hoenn's ferries to Rustboro. Once I get my Pokémon, I'll —"

"Head off to Verdanturf Town, participate in a contest, and compete throughout the Hoenn region until you can join the Grand Festival," his father continued with a wave of his hand. "Yes, yes, I know all the technical details. And it's the _Spirit_ you'll be getting on in Olivine, unless you plan on winding up in Sinnoh. But I want to know what your plans are. Will you be traveling alone, or will you meet up with another Coordinator? Maybe someone challenging the Gyms? How many Pokémon do you think you'll use? How often will you call? Heck, I don't even know what Pokémon you're going to start with."

"Torchic," Tyler replied instantly. "As for the rest…I'm not sure. I sort of figured I'd figure all that out as I went along." That was true, more or less. To some of the questions.

"I guess that makes sense. That's what I did, after all. But if you want my advice, make a friend or two and travel with them. It's easier-going, traveling in a group. More fun, too." He thought for a moment, and reached for another bite of butter. "Torchic — that's interesting. Once you told me you wanted to head to Hoenn, I figured you were planning to go with Treecko. Actually, I figured you were going _because_ of Treecko…"

Treecko…was there a Treecko in his dream last night? Tyler felt like there might have been. "What makes you think I'd go with Treecko?"

His father took a minute to swallow his food. "Just after the accident, there were times when all you would talk about were dreams about a Treecko. At first, your mother and I thought that you might have met one on an island somewhere — you could hardly have survived on the open ocean for two months, after all. As I recall, there were quite a few stories that went along with it…though for the life of me, I can't remember what they were. You had a few drawings, too." He scratched his chin. "Now that I think of it, a Torchic might've shown up in a couple of them."

Tyler had forgotten about that. He had forgotten quite a bit about the accident, actually. A falling sensation, waves pulling him under in a storm…and then, water filling his lungs as he struggled to the surface. From what he could remember, it seemed to last only a few minutes — but two months had passed by the time he washed ashore on the coast of Kin Island. If he met a Treecko somewhere out there, he had no memory of it. Were there even Treecko in the Sevii Islands? He had certainly never seen one.

"I don't remember anything about that," he replied. "Like I said, I don't remember much from back then." As an afterthought, he added, "I think there might have been a Treecko in my nightmare last night, actually."

Mr. Sind considered that. "Well, I suppose you wouldn't. I can't remember much from when I was your age, much less half that. And if it was such a bad dream, maybe you shouldn't go with Treecko, after all. You were probably just worried about picking the wrong Pokémon, is all."

"Yeah," Tyler agreed, "That must be it." Could that be it? Was his brain trying to tell him not to pick Treecko? It was possible…but he was planning on picking Torchic to begin with, and if that _was_ all it was, why was it so hard to fall back asleep? He might have been nervous, but it felt like there was something more he was supposed to remember…

Pushing the thought aside, he gestured toward the blank television screen. "So…anything interesting on TV?"

"Hmm?" his father asked as he swallowed the last of his pancakes. "Oh. No, just the news. The Unovan President's messing things up, again. Sinnoh's continuing to be stubborn about extradition. That guy in Lavender Town's still upset we got a Gym and he didn't." He took a sip of orange juice. "Actually, there was something interesting. Remember all that hubbub around Birth Island seven years ago?"

Tyler rolled his eyes. "You mean, the 'hubbub' that happened while I was gone?"

Birth Island was a small piece of land in the ocean far south of Fortune Island. To put it on the same level as the other Sevii Islands was being generous — really, it was little more than a triangular piece of rock with a dock attached to it. The Seagallop ferries had run to it, years ago, but you needed a special ticket to get there — even a Rainbow Pass would only go so far, and the Seagallop Company seemed reluctant to expand that to a boring rock in the least-populous part of the Sevii.

A little over seven years ago, though, there was an explosion of some sort on the island. From what Tyler had heard, it was bright enough to be seen from Quest Island. A few days later, the new Indigo League Champion, Red — Tyler had missed his victory, too — made his way to the island after rooting out Team Rocket's base on Chrono Island. Whatever had happened there, the Champion's trip was the last time a Seagallop docked at the rock; after he left, the Kanto government closed the island to outside access.

At the time, news that Team Rocket might have been active this far south in Sevii was the talk of the island, and there was much speculation as to what they could have been doing that would prompt the island to be closed. After all, Rocket's Sevii headquarters was on Chrono Island, and none of the facilities there were closed. Trainers nowadays used the old Rocket warehouse to stage battles, and there was talk of converting it into a Gym, before Fortune Island got the nod. Why would Birth Island be so different?

"Right. Sorry — sometimes I forget all that happened in those two months," his father apologized. "Anyway, as it turns out, the explosion might not have been caused by Team Rocket at all. There's this meteor — or it might've been a comet — they got pictures of in…wait, where was it again…?" he trailed off. "Mossdeep, I think. Anyway, there's this meteor they got pictures of in Mossdeep, and some scientists from Knot City say our explosion might've been caused by a piece breaking off of that meteor."

Something about that unsettled Tyler. It was probably just coincidence that he had heard about this meteor twice in one week, but it felt strangely imposing, and strangely familiar — almost as if there was something about it he was supposed to remember. Was he on Birth Island when he was missing? That would explain how he was able to survive for weeks alone. And, for all he knew, there might actually be Treecko on Birth Island — who could say?

But…no, there were too many problems with that. If he was there when this meteor fell — if it fell — then surely he would have seen Red, right? He felt that he would remember that; even if he did forget, it was hard to believe the Champion would just leave him there. And if he was safe on Birth Island, how did he get all the way to Kin Island? Professional swimmers struggled to swim to Kin Island from Boon Island, and those were right next to each other, relatively-speaking. How would a child make it thirty times the distance?

He pushed the thoughts aside. Whatever had happened back then, it was in the past. There was no sense worrying about it, especially now that he would be starting a new chapter of his life. "That is interesting," he admitted, "but why would they close the island after that? Unless this scientist is suggesting there were" — he made a dramatic face — "aliens or something?!"

"Oh, ha ha." His father snorted. "I suppose you're right. One of these days, I'll have to ask Duncan if he has any idea what happened there. He drove the last ship there, you know." He glanced at the clock. "It's almost 7 — we better get going. We don't want to miss the ship to Vermillion, after all!"

That prompted another eye roll. "Dad, isn't that your ship?"

His father scratched his head in mock thoughtfulness. "Oh yeah, I guess it is, isn't it?"

⁂

It was almost 11 by the time _Seagallop Hi-Speed 7_ arrived in the Vermillion City Port. The _S.S. Aqua_ was already there, awaiting its 12:00 trip to Olivine City. Various shipping vessels were in port, too, along with a few nicer passenger ships — even the _S.S. Anne._ Tyler supposed that he could have booked passage on it, instead. That would have been funny — taking the same ship he nearly died on seven years ago to start his journey in Hoenn. Ah, well. It was too late now. The fare would probably be too expensive, anyway.

As he started to walk off the ship, his father put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm proud of you," he said. "Don't ever forget that. No matter what happens. I know things haven't exactly been easy these past few years. And I know your mother and I always said we would support you when you told us you didn't want to be a Trainer…but I'm glad you changed your mind and found something you want to do. I still remember having to tell you about Nidoran. I'm just...so proud of you." Hurriedly, he added, "Not that I wouldn't be proud if you didn't change your mind. I'd be proud no matter what you do, I'm just happy —"

Tyler cut him off with a hug. "I know what you meant, dad. And thanks. For everything."

"Just remember — I'm always there for you," he said pulling out of the embrace. "Got your good luck charm?"

Crap. In the early morning rush, Tyler had left it back on his nightstand. Sure, it was probably just superstitious nonsense, but he always felt better when it was near him. Whatever it was, it had survived those two months alone with him; that much was enough.

Seeing the expression on his face, his dad laughed. "Don't worry, don't worry. I saw that you forgot it this morning," he said, taking the gold pin out of his pocket.

Tyler took the egg and pinned it to his jacket. "Thanks."

His father's watch started beeping. "Right," he said. "I better get going. They don't like it when the ferries run late." He reached for his wallet. "Here," he said, holding out a crisp bill. "It's ¥1000. You don't want to eat that garbage they serve on the _Aqua._ There's a deli about a block from the dock that sells good wraps. Grab something on me."

"Okay, thanks!" Tyler said, waving as he walked down the gangway. "I'll call you when I get to Olivine!"

"You better!" his father shouted. "Be safe!"

"I will!" he called back before turning away from the ship. Half a minute later, his father's voice echoed through a loudspeaker, signaling the all-aboard for the return trip to Quest Island.

⁂

Tyler munched on his wrap, the taste of avocado and Olivine Miltank cheese filling his mouth as he w. He had to admit it — this _was_ delicious. Not to mention cheap; he still had over half the money his father had given him. Sometimes, that man was too generous. Being a ferry captain was not the highest-paying job in the world, but somehow Tyler's dad still managed to spoil him.

Now, all he had to do was wait for Mia to arrive. He had tried calling her before, but her Pokégear went straight to voicemail. If she took too long, they might end up missing the boat altogether. Then what would they do? The tickets were non-refundable, and he could hardly afford to buy them again...

He glanced at the time. 12:30. Maybe she was already past security and waiting inside for him. Maybe.

⁂

He was already in line for the security checkpoint, his wrap long since eaten, when Mia finally showed up, shouting "Hey!" as she cut into the line behind him. After taking a look at his lone suitcase, she added, "That's all you're bringing?"

"Mia! Long time, no see," he joked. "And yeah, I'm planning on getting most of my stuff once I — we — get to Hoenn."

Mia looked at him skeptically. She herself had a slightly larger suitcase, plus a messenger bag. By now, they were getting dangerously close to the _S.S. Aqua_ 's departure time. Passengers behind them grumbled as the minutes ticked by until finally, they made it to the front of the line. Tyler passed through security with ease; Mia, on the other hand, had to have her suitcase checked twice. And once the security official looked at her ticket…

"Ma'am, this ticket is for a Miu Lael, but your ID says —"

"Yes," Mia interrupted, "it's a typo. I cleared all that up with your office an hour ago."

Tyler raised an eyebrow as the official continued. "Even so…"

Mia reached into her bag. "Here's my passport. See? _Mia_ Lael. With an 'a'. It's not my fault they got the wrong vowel when printing my ticket. I've even got the visa."

The official took her passport. "Yes, I suppose that does make sense…and while this passport is fairly new, you do have an entry visa for the Johto and Hoenn regions…" His eyes darted to the left and right quickly. "Okay. Welcome aboard, Miss Lael."

Mia took her passport back from the agent and put it into her bag. Looking inside, Tyler saw that she had already filled it with Poké Balls, Potions, and a wide variety of Berries, some of which he had never seen before. The pink ones might have been Kee Berries, but where on Earth did she get them? He would have to see if he could make Pokéblocks out of them later…once he actually learned how to make Pokéblocks. Baby steps.

As they walked around the corner, Tyler whispered to her, "What was all that about a typo?"

Mia passed it off with a wave of her hand. "It's nothing. My sister bought my ticket, so it's in her name, not mine. Hopefully, we'll have that all cleared up by the time we take the…" she looked at her tickets "… _Spirit._ "

Tyler looked at her. "Well, I guess…as long as we still make it." He thought for a moment. "You're sure you're okay with just switching to a completely different region like this? And with me dragging you to all sorts of contests?"

"Are you kidding?" Mia replied. "The Hoenn region sounds great! White sand beaches, exotic jungles, volcanos with cities in them…"

He let her ramble on. Hoenn _did_ have a lot going for it. Finally, he would be able to compete in Contests. Maybe he could even earn enough Ribbons to compete in the Grand Festival. How amazing would that be? With Ann's Indigo League finish and a Grand Festival appearance under his own belt, they would be the most amazing siblings from Quest Island! Maybe they would both even win, someday. That would certainly make the island famous.

The _Aqua's_ engines rumbled to life as the boat departed. Yes. This was a nice start to things.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  
Mossdeep Space Center, Mossdeep City, Hoenn  
January 22nd, 2022, 9:50 pm  
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Franklin Cogliati, laptop in-hand, knocked nervously on his boss's door. A week ago, he found himself in this same position — staring at the plain wooden door, all the lights in the office out behind him, waiting for his boss to see who was bothering him so late at night. Back then, the intern was eager to tell his boss he had discovered missing files from the Kinetic Advanced Land Observation Satellite, his only fear that his boss would think he had made it all up. He was nervous, yes, but at least then he had had good news. Now? Now it might have been better if his boss _had_ thought he had made it all up.

"Sir?" he asked nervously. "May I come in? We have a big problem with the KALOS release."

"Ah, Franklin!" his boss said, opening the door. "What're you still doing here this time of night? Of course you can come in. Here, take a seat, make yourself comfortable." He gestured to a chair across from his desk before returning to his seat. "So, what's the issue? They not naming the meteor after you or something?"

"I think we're being hoaxed," Franklin replied bluntly.

"Hoaxed?" His boss gave him a skeptical look. "What do you mean, 'hoaxed'?"

"'Hoaxed' isn't the right word. Maybe 'bamboozled'? 'Smeckledorfed'? Things aren't adding up, and…just…look at this," Franklin replied, awkwardly flipping open his computer. "This image is from yesterday's KALOS batch." On the monitor, a meteor was faintly silhouetted against the black backdrop of space, a few craters and chasms barely visible in the dim light.

"You're right!" his boss said in mock exclamation. "There is a problem — these images are all in black and white!" He paused for a moment. After Franklin failed to laugh at his joke, he continued. "Okay, what am I supposed to be seeing? Is there a UFO hiding behind the meteor? It just looks like any of the other images we've gotten back, and nothing in them suggested a hoax."

Franklin pressed a key on his computer. The image changed, now showing a vaguely potato-shaped lump of rock resting on a desk.

"What's this?"

"This," Franklin said, "is a piece of the meteorite the Kanto government recovered from Birth Island. There was an explosion on the island at about the same time as our meteor, and the island was closed to outsiders. I…read an article online speculating it might've actually been caused by a fragment of the meteor we found, so I started to do some digging." His boss started to interrupt. "Don't ask me how I got this," Franklin said quickly. "Let's just say I have a friend who works in the Kanto government, and leave it at that."

His boss thought for a moment. "Okay. I trust your judgement."

"Thank you. Now, this video," Franklin continued, pressing a button, "was taken on Birth Island about three years ago. A pair of explorers docked on a nearby island and used a Wishiwashi to travel there for their honeymoon. At the —" he checked a note he took, "12-minute mark of this video, they find a rock that looks almost identical to the meteorite. Now, there's no crater, so it's hard to say if it's a meteorite for sure, but…"

"Okay. What's your point?"

"Let's go back to our original image," Franklin replied. "Look at the coloration, and these sort of pores in the meteor. They're practically identical to the meteorites I showed you."

His boss looked at his computer. "I guess," he said, "but what's the issue? Meteors break up during entry all the time, and we know ours exploded. If Kanto really did find a piece of it on…what did you say the island was, again?"

"Birth Island."

"Right. If Kanto really did find a piece of it on Birth Island, that just gives us more evidence."

"That's what I thought, too," Franklin said, "until I considered the implications. Here's another image we just got of the meteor." He pressed a button, changing the image on his computer. As you can see, it's coming in rather steep — at least 60 degrees. When it broke up during entry, its fragments should have roughly kept its trajectory. Only —"

"…only the Sevii Islands aren't anywhere near Baram Island," his boss interrupted.

"Exactly. In fact, in order for our fragment to wind up on Birth Island, it's horizontal momentum would've had to been _reversed._ Which is possible, mind you, but not through a natural breakup."

"What're you implying?"

"Someone blew it up," Franklin said definitively. "It's the only explanation. Either that, or two nearly identical meteors struck the planet coming from opposite directions with completely different trajectories at the exact same time." He paused a minute. "But if someone did blow it up, and we have evidence that that happened…"

"…that might create an international incident," his boss concluded.

Franklin nodded in reply. The Five Islands Treaty banned _all_ human interference on Baram Island and the other islands nearby, and practically every country in the world had signed it. Putting something there to blow up a meteor would definitely violate that treaty. And the only thing that could create an explosion of that size would be a thermonuclear bomb; the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty would prohibit that. The Suborbital Protection and Cooperation Enactment required all suborbital activities to be reported internationally...the list just went on and on.

His boss sat back in his chair and sighed. Rubbing his temples with his fingers, he continued, "Okay, okay." Another sigh. "The next batch comes in on the 25th. We'll delay the press conference until then; hopefully, they'll show the asteroid coming in more normally, and this will all just be a strange coincidence. In the meantime, you —" he pointed at Franklin "— use some of the wizardry you used to find this in the first place, and see if you can't find where some other fragments might be."

Franklin nodded. "I'll get right on it, sir."

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

 _ **Author's Notes:**_ For those of you who were wondering, the cover image is an actual photograph of the asteroid 443 Eros. If Eros were to hit the Earth, it would make the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs seem like a small firecracker. Thankfully, it's safely situated out near Mars and won't be getting anywhere near Earth for the next hundred millennia.

As always, I appreciate any criticism you have! ^_^


	5. Chapter Four — Dirk

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RESURRECTED MEMORIES: A MYSTERY DUNGEON STORY  
By "Enigma149" (a.k.a. "SlopeHoke")  
Chapter Four — Dirk  
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  
ONBS World Headquarters, Pyrite Town, Orre  
January 25th, 2022, 12:20 pm  
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A news reporter pushed herself between Haruki and Dirk as they made their way up to the second floor of the Orre National Broadcasting Service's headquarters. To Dirk, the marbled floors, columned walls, and posh atmosphere of the building felt out-of-place in the otherwise desolate Pyrite Town. Why ONBS would choose to put their headquarters here of all places escaped him. Land in Pyrite Town might be cheap, but it was hard to believe all the employees would be willing to live in a ramshackle town like this. Maybe they commuted from one of the Orre's more prosperous locales — Phenac or Gateon or Agate — but then why not just build there?

"You know," Haruki said as he and Dirk turned toward yet another ornate staircase, "when you told me there was suspicious activity, and that I should 'scuttle my butt back to the hotel', I expected to head off right then and there."

Dirk grunted. "Yeah, well, red tape. You know how it is." He rolled his eyes. He _had_ intended they leave that night. But once that fool Johnson caught word of their investigation, he decided to launch his own expedition. With the way Pyrite's Chief of Police handled secrecy, Cipher would be well gone by the time they got anywhere near the place. Thankfully, since the cave was technically ONBS property, Chief Johnson needed a warrant to get in.

Of course, pointing that out meant _they_ needed to get a warrant as well…

"Okay, okay, yeah. I get it." The bureaucracy had long been the bane of Dirk's existence since joining the International Police. With the way Haruki responded, that was starting to become something they shared. "And another thing," Haruki continued. "When you told me we were going to a mine, I was expecting…you know, a mine. Not an office building."

Dirk looked at him dubiously. "Did you even read the report I gave you on Cipher's past activities in Pyrite Cave?"

Haruki glanced at the floor. "I…might've skimmed it."

Dirk rolled his eyes again and sighed. That was typical. Haruki fancied himself the next Looker or Nanu, but Dirk had to fight tooth-and-nail just to get him to follow basic procedure. Yes, reading reports was boring, but it was still part of the job! "Okay. Well, if you _had_ read it, you would've known that the mine has two entrances: one just outside of town, and one up here, where Cipher's old headquarters used to be."

"Then why aren't we using the ground entrance? Why bother trudging up three flights of stairs?"

"Because," Dirk continued, somewhat exasperated, "when ONBS took over and renovated the Pyrite Building, they closed off the upper entrance."

"Ah." Dirk's comments seemed to make some sense to the lad. Maybe this would get Haruki to finally start listening to him. "So if we went in the lower entrance, Cipher would know we're onto them," Haruki continued. "But if we go in the entrance up here…"

"…nobody would expect us," Dirk finished. At least the lad could put two and two together, if someone started the work for him. "If we're lucky, they won't even bother guarding it, since they should think it's still closed off. Speaking of which…"

They reached the top of the staircase, stepping out of a hole onto a balconied roof. Up here, the building's contrast with the rest of Pyrite was amplified. Even the roof of the ONBS Building had a marble floor, while half the buildings in town were missing a window or three. While the rest of the buildings had bare roofs, and even the chasm cutting through town was open for anyone to fall in, the ONBS Building had a white guardrail running along three quarters of its roof. The fourth side, facing away from the center of town, ended abruptly at the face of the cliff the building was cut into. A small hole cut into the cliffside, the cave entrance covered by "Do Not Enter" tape. Behind them, a satellite dish sat atop what looked like an unnecessarily fancy shack.

"Alright," Dirk said, a serious look on his face. "Here's the plan. I'll go in first, you follow 15 minutes later. I'll mark the path I took; you take a different one. If we split up, we'll be able to cover more ground in the same amount of time. You see any sign of Cipher, get whatever evidence you can. You have to confront an agent, so be it, but make sure it's a battle you can win. The last time these guys were in power, they had all the numbers on their side, and we don't want a hostage situation."

"I can take care of myself," Haruki said sassily.

"I'm sure you can," replied Dirk, sounding not at all sure. "But sometimes people need reminding." He took out two flashlights, handing one to Haruki. "These things suck," he commented. "The damn things start to flicker after a few hours, and go out shortly after that. Neither of us finds anything in three hours, we meet back here." That was a bit of an exaggeration, but if it got Haruki back…

"Right. Got it. You go in, I go in fifteen minutes later, then we meet back here in three hours." Haruki paused for a moment. "Wait. Is that three hours after I go in, or three hours after you go in?"

Dirk started brushing aside the protective tape. "Just get back here, okay?"

⁂

Dirk trudged through the cave, feeling his way along the wall as he went, careful to keep his flashlight pointed at nothing but the ground in front of him. He moved slowly through the dank darkness, pausing occasionally to get his bearings, or arrange some pebbles on the side of the cave. To any nonobservant passerby, they should look like nothing more than ordinary pebbles, but the formations would tell him a story, one of where he had been, and where he had yet to go. With them, he could find his way through the winding labyrinth beneath Pyrite, and let Haruki know where to search himself.

He stopped. He listened.

Nothing. Not even the sound of dripping water. Just a cold, dark eeriness and the taste of stale air. He glanced at his watch, forgetting momentarily that it would be too dark to see. Regardless, it must have been an hour — maybe two — since he came down here, and so far there had been no sign of Cipher. In a sense, that was good; for all he knew, the criminal remnant had no idea they were even under investigation. In another sense…

He stopped again. Still nothing.

…if Cipher _was_ using Pyrite Cave, he should have seen something by now. Had their intelligence been wrong? That happened from time to time, and eyewitnesses had a habit of seeing things that weren't there for the tip money, especially in a town like Pyrite. Or had it been right, and Cipher had caught wind of their investigation? Maybe the same person they paid for the tip went right to Cipher for a second paycheck; that happened from time-to-time, too.

Dirt scrunched beneath his feet. Deep in the cave, a single water drop fell. He trudged on.

⁂

Cipher was definitely not here.

Dirk stood atop a metal staircase, a gaping hole in the cave floor ahead of him, one of several he encountered thus far. He had been down and up and down again, trying to reach this exact point in the cave (if only somebody bothered mapping this place; that would make this expedition a whole lot easier). Off to his left, a single tunnel ran some unknown distance, winding its way out into the desert and the only other entrance into the labyrinthian cave network.

But the rusted staircase was missing a step, and the tunnel had rotting wooden crates piled near it, a thick layer of dust covering all surfaces. No; this cave was empty, and had been empty for years. Someone may have been hanging around the entrance; a curious spelunker put off by the "Forbidden" sign, some teenagers looking for a place to get high, or a trainer seeking shelter for the night. Whoever it was, they certainly stopped before getting very far in.

Still, he had to be thorough. The higher-ups would want to know every detail of this cave, and if he admitted he stopped his search halfway through…

Slowly, carefully, he descended into darkness.

⁂

Dirk sat down, leaning against a wall. How long had he been down here? He was no stranger to long, overnight stakeouts or deep investigations, but the loneliness of the cave started to wear on him, and he had lost track of how long he had been down in the cave. He fumbled through his pockets with his right hand, trying to find his watch without dropping the flashlight in his left. It was for nought; just as his fingers grasped the watch, his left hand slipped. A clang and crunching noise echoed down the cave as his flashlight hit the floor, as Dirk and the rest of the tunnel plunged into blackness.

Bending over to pick it up, he mentally cursed himself. He quickly scooped it back up — the bulb was broken; he would have to find his way back by feeling along the edge of the cave. Worse, someone was bound to hear that, and would no doubt be upon him soon. Better than being lost in the dark? Maybe, but if someone found him…

Then again, who was out there to hear him? Pyrite Cave was as empty as empty got, himself discounted. He looked around. Darkness. He listened. Nothing. He sniffed at the air. A faint odor, coming from somewhere behind him, but nothing unusual.

Shaking his head, he depressed the side button on his watch, its radium-infused screen illuminating his small part of the infinite blackness with a dull, dim green. 3:42. It _had_ been three hours. He got up, brushing dust off his pants, carving a large "P" into the dirt with his foot. If no-one was down here, that mark would still be there if he had to return. If someone was down here, it was innocuous enough to go unnoticed. He hoped.

He sighed. He might not share Haruki's open disdain for Pyrite Town, but the rusted buildings, boarded-up windows, patchwork roofs, and broken people grew tiring after a while. He felt crushed, trapped with the rest of the townsfolk in a place no-one wanted to be. He sighed again, and shook his head. Maybe he should have stayed on the Goldenrod Police Force. Interpol paid better, but he had missed Bryan's past four birthdays. His son seemed so happy the last time they talked, his Pidgeotto finally a Pidgeot…it all seemed so distant, now.

But now was not the time for these thoughts. He could place a video call to Goldenrod when he got back to the hideout. The makeshift apartment they had converted into a headquarters might not be quite up-to-code…or, indeed, safe to live in at all, but it had electricity, and it had internet, which was more than they could hope for at some other places in Pyrite. Taking one last look down the cave, he turned back the way he came.

And there, a hundred meters ahead, was a light.

He snapped against the edge of the cave, desperately attempting to conceal himself however he could. The light shone from an offshoot of the cave he had yet to explore, an offshoot that lead directly to where he was standing. If he stayed where he was too much longer, he was bound to get discovered. He looked around for shelter. Nothing. Which meant…

He reached for his back pocket, drawing out two Pokéballs. His Growlithe had served him well these past few years, but it had been awhile since they had a real battle. Yes, he had told Haruki "no confrontations unless necessary", but in this situation, an Ember and a quick knockout was really the best he could hope for. Two-on-one would normally be frowned on, but when dealing with criminals, there was no point asking for a fair fight.

He slowly walked toward the light. No point in waiting around to get discovered. If he could make his to the corner quickly, he could ambush whoever it was by the time they reached him. Just sixty more meters. Fifty-five. Fifty. He picket up his pace. Forty. Thirty. He expanded the Pokéballs, readying his throw. Twenty. Ten.

"Sir?" Haruki said as Dirk emerged around the corner, his own flashlight beam echoing off the cave walls like some sort of underground lighthouse. "What're you doing here? I thought you were marking where you went."

Dirk stood dumbfounded, searching for words. After a moment, he found them. "Put that thing out," he said, in the sternest whisper he could muster, "and stop talking so loudly." After another moment, he continued. "What am I doing here? What are _you_ doing here? I left standard markers along my whole path; _you_ were supposed to go the other way!" Despite his efforts, his voice echoed down the tunnels, distorting into an otherworldly hiss as it bounced off the uneven nooks and crannies of the walls.

"Yeah, I found your marker," Haruki said, still loud, echoing far more than Dirk. "Wooden crates. Not exactly subtle."

"Wooden crates? Those weren't…" Dirk pressed his face into his hands. "Those weren't my marker. I've left markers at every branch from here to the surface, see?" He grabbed Haruki's flashlight, pointing it toward the floor of the cave. There, a small scattering of pebbles lay, carefully arranged in a "Њ" pattern.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that's what your 'marker' looked like? I wasn't even looking out for some dumb rocks." Haruki asked defensively, his voice carrying down the halls.

"It's a standard marker!" By now, Dirk had finally given up on being silent. "You learned about it in training! The little round bit points toward the exit, and the flat bits point to where you've still got to explore!"

"Well…that's not…" Finally, Haruki seemed to quiet down. "Okay. Yeah. You're right, I should have known that. A little reminder would've been nice, but…my bad." He sighed. He shook his head. He sighed again. "I'm…I'm sorry. I should've done better."

That was true. That was certainly true. And yet…Dirk thought back to his own early days. No, he had not messed up quite as badly as Haruki. But mess up he did, and had his partner just shut him down then…

"Look," he said, moving toward Haruki. "You and I…we haven't exactly gotten on well together. And yeah, things could've gone better, but I suppose things are different, you know, in the real world and all." He looked around, and tried a half-laugh. "You couldn't've picked a better time to make mistakes, at least. There's no-one here."

Haruki sighed again. "Thanks." He looked up at Dirk. "You haven't seen anything either, then?"

Dirk shook his head. "Nope. Not a soul to be found, not a stone out of place…except for my own, of course. Far as I can tell, we're the first ones in here since they cleared this place out six years ago." He looked down the hallway behind him. "I was planning on going back up — it's been three hours, in case you haven't noticed — but I guess if we're both here together…"

He started for the tunnel, toward where he left the "P" in the dirt. Haruki followed behind him.

⁂

For the hour, they proceeded in near-silence. There was really little need for it; the racket their discussion caused would have alerted anyone to their presence, to say nothing of Haruki's flashlight…a flashlight he pointed every which-way, despite Dirk's insistence. Yes, he was right, there was no-one down here. Yes, the flashlight made things easier to see. But it was still bad practice.

Oh well. He would learn.

Eventually, after winding further through the tunnels (and stopping to make a few more markers), Dirk and Haruki came to another rusted staircase. A strong, pungent odor wafted up from below, causing both agents to gag. "Phew," Haruki said, waving a hand in front of his nose. "What's that smell?" Yet another reminder he put off reading that report.

"Sewer," Dirk replied, hoping he hid his annoyance. "Way back when there was still, well, mining going on here, they dug into an underground lake. Once they built the Under, they built its sewer system to dump into the lake, rather than fight gravity all the way to the surface. See?" Dirk gestured down into the cave, as Haruki turned his flashlight into the darkness below. Sure-enough, the glass-like surface of an underground lake shone up through the staircase, a metal path suspended above it.

"That's…that's absolutely disgusting," Haruki replied, gagging again.

"Yeah. Yeah it is." At least the kid was right about something. "And Pyrite's dumps into it now, too. But we don't have much of a choice. When Cipher used this cave the first time around, most of their activities were in this bottommost floor of the cave. If they're were here…which they weren't…but if they were here, that'd be the place to look."

Haruki peeked down the staircase. An iron catwalk ran above the surface of the lake. The stench was overwhelming.

"Here," Dirk said, handing him a nose clip. "You're going to need this."

⁂

"Well," Dirk said, finally abandoning any attempts at keeping quiet. "I guess that's it."

He stood in a large, empty round room. The center portion was elevated slightly, its faded paint and sunburst design giving it almost the look of a carnival stage. Surrounding it, a few empty oil drums lay scattered about, and a wire hung from the ceiling, its purpose long since forgotten. At the far end of the room, a rusted metal floor had fallen free of its hinges, giving way to an equally empty chamber. Everything — the stage, the barrels, the door, even the wire — sat covered in a thick layer of dust.

"I guess so," Haruki agreed. After a moment, he added, "You know, even though I knew there wouldn't be anyone down here, I was sort of hoping…"

"…that you'd see someone anyway? Yeah, I know the feeling." Dirk shook his head. "Well, I guess hoping for something doesn't make it true. We should head back

"No," Haruki said, "someone was definitely here. Look." He pointed at the ground with his flashlight. "There's some tracks in the dirt here. Like someone wheeled a machine or something."

Dirk walked over to where he pointed. It was true — a pair of grooves ran in the dirt along the ground. He took a closer look, and looked at the ground around them. Haruki was right; someone _had_ been here, and tried to cover it up. Here and there, little piles of dirt rested in unnaturally straight lines, as if someone had brushed it away to obscure their tracks. It might have worked, too, had Dirk been alone.

On the other side of the room, Haruki kept searching. "There're some over here, too! And a footprint! Wait, no, that's mine." He walked a bit further, his flashlight focused on the ground. "I think they lead back out over the lake!"

"Well, I'll be damned," Dirk said, clapping a hand on Haruki's shoulder. "Good job." Turns out the kid was good for something after all. Although if someone was here… "We really shouldn't have made all that noise," Dirk said.

Haruki nodded. "I guess you're right."

"Yeah, well…if it's any consolation, I don't think whoever it was was around to hear us." He looked at where Haruki was pointing. Yes, there were tracks there. The moisture in the cave kept the metal catwalk relatively dirt-free, but here and there, in odd spots, the grooves picked up, leaving a small smear behind them.

The two agents looked at each other, and began following the tracks. Dirk retrieved his Pokéballs again, as Haruki readied an Ultra Ball of his own. His partner was a Growlithe as well, though Dirk had never seen it.

The tracks wound their way through the maze above the lake. From time-to-time, they faded, only to be picked up again a few dozen feet ahead. Dirk had to admit, whoever tried to cover these did a decent job. Had Haruki not been so liberal with his flashlight, had they not looked in the one corner of that one room, it might have escaped notice. But now…now it seemed almost _too_ obvious. Was he losing his edge? Dirk mentally kicked himself for not being observant enough. Maybe it _was_ time to retire.

"Oof."

Dirk bumped into something ahead of him. That something, as it turns out, was Haruki, who had stopped by the edge of the catwalk, looking into the sewage-infested lake. "What's wrong?" Dirk asked.

"It's the tracks. Look." Haruki pointed his flashlight at the ground. "They just run right off the edge here. As if someone just pushed it right into the lake."

Sure enough, he was right. The tracks ran right toward the edge, stopping about an inch away. Dirk looked over, into the black lake, as Haruki shone his beam against it. The light reflected off the surface like some strange, alien mirror. For all Dirk knew, the lake might be just a few feet deep, with whatever equipment their mystery man had so kindly left for them laying just beneath the surface…or it might be ten or twenty or fifty feet deep; it was impossible to tell for sure.

Some of the other bits of catwalk had fallen in; it was possible whoever moved this had a temporary bridge. Dirk looked forward, disappointment filling him once again. He had focused so much on the tracks, he failed to notice where he was. The two agents were near the edge of the cave now, its mold-covered wall just a half dozen feet past the edge of the catwalk. A large, round sewage pipe ran out of the wall ahead of him, blessedly not dumping anything in at this moment.

"Well, that's…certainly interesting," Haruki said, snapping Dirk out of his musings. "Are there any other places they could've gone? Some exit we might have missed? Maybe they saw the tracks they were leaving, and loaded it onto some sort of sled here."

Dirk thought for a minute, then shook his head. "There were a few entrances coming from the Under, but they would've all been sealed off years ago when the city was filled in," he began. "Unless whoever this was blasted another tunnel into the cave, the ground entrance would've been the only way they could get in. And even if they had loaded it onto something, we would've seen some evidence of it back by the other staircases. Heck, I'm surprised we didn't see any evidence of _them_ on our way down here. It's almost a little sad; they did such a good job of covering their tracks."

"Hmm…" Haruki scratched his chin. "Maybe there weren't very many of them. This isn't exactly the most convenient thing to use as a base."

"Maybe…maybe…" Dirk looked over the side of the railing, the lake staring back at him. "They sure didn't want anyone finding out what they were doing, though, if they were desperate enough to dump their equipment into the lake." He smiled. "Oh well. I won't complain when people leave evidence laying around…although I'm not really sure how we're going to get a salvage team down here to retrieve it."

Haruki's flashlight flickered, and flickered again, and went out completely. After a small bit of percussive maintenance, the beam lit back up for a second, only to flicker out again. Haruki swore, while Dirk reached for his other pocket. After a moment of bumbling around in the darkness, he found his own, shattered flashlight, twisted open the back, and removed two tiny batteries. Being particularly careful not to drop them (how lost would they be, if one went plunging over the edge?), he gestured for Haruki to give him his flashlight. After a quick swap, he put the spent batteries back into his pocket (along with the rest of his broken flashlight), and flicked the switch. The light ignited, illuminating the cave once more. "We should probably get going. We're late for check-in as it is, and we'll have to report what we found down here."

He took one last look over the edge before making his way back across the catwalk, Haruki following alongside him.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  
Steven Stone Terminal, Mossdeep City, Hoenn  
January 31st, 2022, 10:26 am  
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

"And how long will you be in the Hoenn region?"

The immigration officer gave Tyler a hard look. It might not have been a glare, but it was close. He started to tap his fingers against the wall, a frown slowly developing on his creased face.

"I…uh…" Tyler stammered. "Well, I don't know. A year or two? However long it takes to qualify for the Grand Festival."

The officer — Officer Hoque, going off his name badge — pursed his lips. "You're a trainer." It might have been a question.

Tyler looked past the officer at the lobby behind him. Somehow, Mia had passed through customs with ease, and was calmly sipping a lemonade while playing some game on her cell phone, her bag of berries beside her. "Uh…yeah."

"You realize you need a visa for that, right?" Judging from his tone, more than a few would-be trainers tried to sneak in without the proper paperwork.

"It should be in there."

Hoque flipped through Tyler's passport, eventually finding a visa pressed onto one of the pages. He grunted, and gave Tyler another hard look. "I'll need to see your Trainer Card."

"Oh! Right!" Tyler reached into his back pocket, pulling out a battered leather wallet that had clearly seen better days. After searching for a while (and dumping his boating license, health insurance card, and Pewter Museum of Science membership onto an irritated customs official's desk), he pulled out a battered blue card depicting a young boy in a blue shirt, a yellow baseball cap twisted backwards on his head.

The officer snatched the card out of Tyler's hand as he moved to hand it to him, pulling a magnifying lens out from under his desk. He squinted, frowned, and gave Tyler another hard look. "Is this supposed to be you?"

"The picture's a little out of date," Tyler granted, "but I swear, that's me. Check the name if you don't believe me."

Hoque took another look at the card. "Well, it does say it's you…" He handed it back to Tyler. "Fine. What Pokémon are you bringing in with you?"

Tyler meekly took his card, stuffing it into his back pocket without bothering to put it into his wallet. "Uh…none."

"You mean to tell me you have an eight year old trainer card and you don't even have a single Pokémon?"

Now it was Tyler's turn to glare at Hoque. "Well, I did have one, once," he snapped. "Was a Nidoran. Got caught in a hurricane; it didn't make it."

"I see…" Once again, it sounded like the officer put absolutely no stock in whatever Tyler had to tell him. Oh well; if he wanted to think Tyler was lying, so be it. "You filled out the proper paperwork for that?"

"I did," Tyler said bitterly, "back in the Sevii Islands."

"Right." The officer paused for a second, a pensive look on his face. After a minute, he rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he did so. "Well, I have no method to legally bar you from entering the country." With a grunt, he reached for a large stamp, and pressed it onto Tyler's visa. Big, green letters depicting "Hoenn Border Force — Long-Term Stay Approved by Officer 14-91-625" obscured Tyler's face and most of the rest of the visa. Officer Hoque snatched the passport up, tossed it back to Tyler, and dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "Get on your way, then." He looked behind Tyler, at an elderly lady standing in line behind him. "Next."

⁂

It was almost noon by the time Tyler had recovered his bags (after convincing yet another official that yes, Oran Berries were in fact native to the Hoenn region) and met up with Mia. By now, she had finished her lemonade and was busy grooming her Pikachu. A white Vulpix sat next to her attentively, attracting several curious looks from passersby. "What took you so long?"

Tyler rolled his eyes. "Apparently, the greatest threat the Hoenn region is facing is teenagers trying to enter the country." He glanced at his Pokétch. "Anyway, I'm just glad I made it through in time — our next boat's in less than an hour. I think I saw an S.S. Ticket machine back by the baggage claim."

Mia shook her head. "Not a problem." She pointed to a massive digital sign covering a large portion of the east wall, depicting the ferries (and other, smaller vessels) that called at the port, and the times they would be leaving. Next to several — including the 12:45 ferry to Slateport they were supposed to be taking — were large, red "cancelled"s.

"What gives?" Tyler asked, turning back to Mia.

As if on cue, a staticky female voice rang out from hidden loudspeakers. "Thank you for visiting Steven Stone Terminal, Mossdeep City's premiere port for passenger service throughout Hoenn and around the world. All _Tidal-_ class ferry services are currently halted due to Typhoon Tokage passing near Sootopolis City. We apologize for any inconvenience. For accommodation information, please visit the nearest information desk. International service to the Orre and Kanto regions remains in operation. _Merci pour votre visite Terminal du Steven Stone, le première port de Algatia…_ "

"Well that's…unfortunate." He looked in his wallet, pulling out a few tattered bills. "I only have enough for the trips over to Rustboro, not nearly enough for a hotel. Who knows how long it could take for this storm to pass through, anyway?"

"Oh, relax," Mia said. "We're trainers, remember? We can just stay at the Pokémon Center. Sure, it might not be the most comfortable place, but it'll do. They even have food! Well, okay, if it's anything like the food they have in the Pokémon Centers in the Sevii Islands, it'll make you question if not going hungry is really worth it, but it's something."

"All right." That was a comforting thought. Tyler had forgotten trainers could stay at Pokémon Centers for free — hell, he still had trouble getting used to the fact that he _was_ a trainer again. Ha. Imagine Ann's face when she finds out. "Well," he continued, "we've got a few days to kill. Any ideas?"

"Waaay ahead of you," Mia replied, whipping out a number of bright, colorful travel pamphlets from her bag and shoving them in Tyler's face. "I picked these up before we left Sevii. There's HAXA's headquarters, the Mossdeep Game Corner — though I heard that might be closed due to gambling regulations — the Steven Stone House, Shoal Cave…but first, we have to visit the Gym."

Tyler skimmed through the pamphlets. There…actually was a lot here. Evidently, Mia had plans. And of course those plans involved going to the Pokémon Gym. "Want to get started on your Gym Challenge early, huh?"

"Hmm?" Mia asked. "Oh, no. Nooooo no no no." She shook her head. "I don't stand a chance against Lisa and Tate. They're a couple of psychics who specialize in Double Battles. I haven't had one of those in years!" She shrugged. "I just wanted to watch them a bit. Maybe pick up some tactics to use when I _do_ have to battle them."

Tyler let out a small chuckle. "Okay, okay. I get it. But how are we even going to afford the tickets? Sure, not many people come to watch battles in the Sevii Islands — no offense to your sister — but aren't they all the rage here? Tickets must cost a small fortune, and we just established that we're almost out of money."

"Well," Mia began, "Lisa's friends with Miu. And I look just like Miu. I could just pretend to be her!" She muttered something under her breath that to Tyler sounded like, "Wouldn't be the first time…"

Tyler gave her a skeptical look. "Didn't you just get done telling me the Gym Leaders were psychics? How are you going to lie to psychics?"

Mia shrugged. "Meh. I'll figure it out."

—

 ** _Author's Notes:_** I've taken the liberty of sizing Pyrite Cave up from its (really tiny) in-game version and modifying its layout. I hope you can forgive me for this.


End file.
